The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-01-01

| brethren on matters purely political.
1T shall not be my purpose to discourse
learnedly on an ideal and impractical citl-
zenship. or to theorize on a new scheme
| OF government, national. State or munich
pal. l will leave that for the Bellamys
and Debses and organs and other eminent
| social reformers, who affect to believe. with
Hamlet. that the time is out OF joint, not
realizing that it is a wheel in their own
gearing that is not running true. To every
| individual attaches a grave responsibility
| in this matter of citizenship TO which he
| should be keeny alive. In our own coun-
| try is this emphasized more than in any
| other and il is an axiom in governmental
| as in natural science, that the character
of the whole depends exclusively on its con-
Sutuent parts.
ONE PHASE OF CITIZENSHIP.
81 shall only attempt to discuss one
phase Of citizenship, but it is one OF the
most important and fundamental-the vot-
ing franchise. There is no proper evasion
o. the right of suffrage by those to whom
it is accorded. The majority of every COM
munity in this country, L take it, is COM
posed of decent. law-abiding people; If it
were not so the fabric of our social econ
omy could not long endure. :,
1.-THE duty of the citizen to record his
| opinions on all questions OF public policy,
local and national, is enjoined by the Con-
tend the primary conscientiously the
prayer meeting. 1t is not only privilege,
| but a duty. l have comprehensive and
cumulative contempt for the political Phar-
| isee, who, with enlarged and conspicuous
| phylactery and with the hem of his gar
| ment drawn close about him, stands on
the street corners with eyes appraised 10
heaven, piously giving thanks that he Is
not as other men are, and then fails to
attend the ward meetingi The So-called
better class OF citizens are negatively re-
| sponsibie for abuses that exist in munich
PAL State and national politics. Primaries
and elections are frequently manipulated
and controlled by political thugs and ward
heelerS, because better men stay away,
fearing to be contaminated by the filth
from the so-called dirty pool of politics.
Whenever the right minded, patriotic
people in any community get together and
| assert themselves unitedly. they can con-
troll and dictate. but where they are in
different and disorganized, they are in
variably defeated. John Stuart Mill says
III his essay on liberty that though society
is not founded on contract, every one
who receives the protection of society owes
a return for the benefit. Every citizen
owes something to the community in which
he lives. This debt cannot be paid by
becoming an object Of public or private
been temporarily deprived of their rights,
or are unable to exercise them.
1--WE cheerfully assume their social and
political obligations We decline to take
The latter are the more culpable. In the
same essay quoted above, the author says:
Human beings owe to each other nelp to
distinguish the better from the worse, and
encouragement to choose from the former
and avoid the latter. They should be for
ever stimulating each other to increased
exercise of their higher faculties, and in
creased direction of their feelings and
aims towards wise, instead of foolish, ele-
waiting, instead of degrading, objects and
ccntemplations. He was not a Christian,
but he was good citizen.
1.-The Duke of Argyll, in his Reign of
Law says: 1T is the most difficult of all
problems in the science Of government to
determine when, where and how it is wise
to interfere by the authority of law with
the motives which are usually called the
natural motives of men, But when the
laws have been written in the statute
books, executive officers have no right
to discriminate in their enforcement. They
take an oath to enforce the laws, and
they should do it impartially. They are
then relieved of all responsibility, because
IL the law is unjust it is not the fault of
the officer. 1t has been pertinently said
that the easiest way to repeal an obnoxious
law is to enforce IL.
ABOUT ROOSEVELT
Theodore Roosevelt, whose courage and
integrity certainly no one will doubt,
when chairman of the Board of Police
Commissioners of New York brought upon
forcing the law. Mark you, not persecut-
ing, but prosecuting. He said at that time:
The Police Board stands squarely in favor
of the honest enforcement of the law. Our
opponents of every grade and or every
shade of political belief take the position
that government officials who have sworn
to enforce the law. shall violate their oaths
whenever they think IL will please a sufi-
Gent number of the public to make the
violation worth while. All that we did
was to enforce these laws, not against
some wrongdoers, but honestly and impair
TALLY against all wrongdoers. Looked at
scberly, this scarcely seems revolution
airy proceeding; and still less does 1t seem
like one which needs an elaborate justifica-
ton This from a man who, as he says
himself. is not an impractical theorist but
practical politician. and successful withal.
Mr.. James Bryce, in the American
Commonwealth, says there is no denying
that the government of cities is the one
conspicuous failure in the United States
ard goes on to tell why he thinks so, but
observes at the close of the chapter that
No one who studies the municipal history
OF the last decades will doubt that things
are better than they were twenty years
ago. The newer frames of government are
an Improvement upon the older Rogues
are less audaciOus. Good citizens are more
active If we admit then that municipal
shortcomings and abuses exist the remedy
should be applied when opportunity offers.
/ have already suggested that the respon-
sibility ought to be further divided Every
voter should be politician. very citizen
who pays taxes ought to know why he is
being taxed and what the money is used
for, and the heaviest taxpayers ought to
be willing to fill municipal offices. Those
who stand aloof and take no part have no
right to criticise the actions of those who
90. and impute corrupt motives TO them.
But the masses are easy going. The
civic conscience is notably lethargic. The
neglect and Indifference of those who have
the greatest interest in good government
is so notorious that it is a matter of gen.
eral comment. Bryce says along this line:
1t may seem a trivial illustration to OBJ
serve that when a railway train is late,
house door stops the horse car for five
minutes, the passengers take the delay far
more ooolly and uncomplainingly than Eng
lishmen would do. But the feeling is the
same as that which makes good citizens
bear with the tyranny of bosses 1t is all
in the course of nature. What is ali in
dividual that he should make fuss be-
cause he loses few minutes, or is taxed
too highly? The sense of the immense
multitude around him presses down the
individual and, after ALL he reflects,
things will come out right in the end.
Consequently the law is defied with i'm
punity, the city is designated as wide open,
where everything goes. until finally and
inevitably the violations are fragrant
and the violators are so arrogant that the
PEOPLE bestir themselves, invoke the
fCrcement of the laws, and check the dam
gerous tendency.
MACHINE IN POLITICS.
at am a great believer in the machine
in politics. The machine is merely or
ganization, and without organization there