The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1903-07-16
popULlsT PRINCIPLES APPLIED
Socialist Principles Djstinguished-kadi-
cal Difference Pointed Out-MaJor-
ity Rule the Vital Issue

ity Rule the Vital Issue
Editor Independent: In my letter
OF last week, | outlined the develop
ments in the majority rule program,
showing how the peoples party In
state and nation, even though It's
membership is nominal only, can Sc
cure constitutional amendments from
the legislatures elected this year, ana
next year can insure the installation
OF majority rule in national AFFAIRS.
Furthermore, the peoples party
platform conforms to the prlnclpies Oh
progress, while the socialist platIorm
Is out OF line 1t follows that there is
urgent need for the continued exist
ence of the peoples party, either I'M
der it's present name or term mat
will be more satisfactory to the I'D
eral hosts that will be looking Tor
home should the next democratic ma
tional convention be controlled by the
reactionists.
The fundamental difference between
the peoples party platform and the
socialist platform is that the one IS
the natural evolution OF free lnstltu-
lions while the other Is a product OF
people who have never lived under
free institutions. Permit me to en-
phasize this point.
The English and American people
have inherited and live under Tree
Institutions The people are the
source of political power.
In Germany the opposite system pre-
declares
thoritatively for the prince, whose
will it considers the highest in the
state. which latter is itself sover-
eign.' 1t is patent that in Germany
the people are not the source OF power
Germany has not reached the stage OF
free institutions. The few rule the
MANY in all things. Practically ev-
erything is determined by offlclals-
rulers are divine appointed or elected.
Necessarily the future of society
as viewed by German students anu
American scholars is vastly different.
The American sees the people OF to-
day in power theoretically, and ne
observes tendency to an effective
majority rule, and experience shows
that under majority rule certain kinds
of legislation prevail, namely, ten
dency to abolish the legal advantages
Of the few and in other ways the
weak and helpless are protected, yet
not to an extent that interferes will
social efficiency. There is religious lib.
erty also, free speech and voluntary
association. These are the results OF
the sovereignty of the people-the
products of free institutions. But as
vet these principles are absent in tht
German state.
This fundamental difference and its
effect on German thought is pointed
out by the political scientists of Eng
land. Switzerland and America. Prof
Borgeaud of Switzerland in a prize
thesis awarded by the law faculty Q
Faris in 1893, adoption and Amend
r.ent of Constitution in Europe ant
America" says in the concluding chap
ter of the history OF the American
constitutional system:
"The sovereign people itself estab
fishes it's constitution Except II
case of urgent necessity justified b.
enc of those revolutionary crises II
WHICH IOItG HGGGSOd1lIy llcto pAOoSNSAiS
over law, no convention in Americ
would dare arrogatc to itself the SOW
ereignty of the people, the exercise Q
which belongs to the electors, and
them alone
This view, Prof Borgeaud point
out lis disputed by Prof. Won Hols
"whcse remarkable works on til
United States have brought him fam
on both sides of the Atlantic Tn
German professors criticism is d
rected at Judge Jameson's work Q
Constitutional Conventions, and tn
Judges reply is that the Won Hols
theory would make the constitution;
convention the master and the peop
it's slaves. This is quoted by tt
Swiss professor and he follows it wit
Jameson's comment:
"That he (Prof. Won. Holstl faile
in some respects properly to apprecia
those (American) institutions ougl
not to be deemed remarkable, whe
it is remembered that before him, [
Tocuueville also failed That n
critic must have failed, that his bri
soiourn among us could not ha'
fitted him to dogmatize in regard
the practical operation of the const
tr.tional conventional perfectly u