The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-09-08


milton have always proved fatal in the
past to other republics.
INDIVIDUAL NEEDS.
"A healthy republican government must
rest upon individuals. not upon classes or
sections. As soon as it becomes govern
ment by a class or by a section, it de-
parts from the old American ideal.
1T is, of course, the mereSt truism TO
say that free institutions are of avail only
TO people who possess the high and pecu-
liar characteristics needed to take aCvan-
tage of such institutions.
"The century that hns just closed
has Witnessed many and BILE
in which people have
seized n government free In form,
or have knd it bestowed upon them,
and yet We permitted it, under
the fOri.- GA liberty, to become some
species OF despOtisn or anarchy, be-
cause they did not have in them the
power to make this seeming liberty
one of Iced instead of one merely of
word.
"Under such circumstances the
seeming liberty may be %suppIanted
by "a tyranny or despotism in the
first place, or it may reach the road
of despOtism by the path of license
and anarchy. 1t matters but little
which road is taken. liz either case
the same goal IL reached.
People show themselves just as unfit
for liberty whether they submit to anarchy
or to tyranny; and class government,
whether it be the government of a plutoc-
racy or the government of a mob. is
equally Incompatible with the principles
established in the days of Washington
and perpetuated in the days OF Lincoln
Many qualities are needed by a PEG.
self-government in fact as well as in
name. Among these qualities are fore
thought. s~hrewdness, self-restraint, the
courage which refuses to abandon ones
kindly good sense which enables one to do
justice to the rights of others.
Lack of strength and lack of cour-
nge unfit men for seIf-Soverament
on the one hand, and on the other
brutal arrogance, envy, in short,
amy manifestation of the spirit of
selfish disregard, whether of ones
own duties or of the rights of others,
are equally fatal.
CAUSES oE DECAY.
In the history of mankind, many Re
publics have riser, have hourished for a
.ess or greater time and then nave fallen
tecauSe their citizens lost the power OF
governing themselves and thereby q gov
erning their State; and in no way has
mis- Ioss OF power been so often and SO
clearly shown as in the tendency to turn
the Government. into a Government pri-
II ar.ly for the benefit OF one class instead
OF a Government for the benefit OF the
people as a whole.
again and again in the Republics of
and medieval flanders, this teneency was
shown and. wherever the tendency be-
came a habit. II invariably and inevitably
proved fatal to the state.
In the final result. II mattered not one
whit whether the movement was in favor
of enc class or of another. The outcome
was equally fatal, whether the country
fell into the hands Of a wealthy oligarchy
which exploited the poor or whether It
fell under the domination of a turbulent
mob which ~plundered the rich.
In both cases there resulted violent al
between tyranny and disorder,
and a final complete loss OF liberty to ali
citizens-destruction In the end overtaking
the class which had fer the moment been
as well as that which had mo-
mentaIily been defeated.
1.-THE death kneII of the Republic
had rung as soon as the active pow
err became lodged in the hands of
those who sought, not to do Justice
to all citizens, rich and poor, alike,
but to stand for one special class and
its interests rs opposed to the in
terests of others.
'"The reason why our future IS assured
lies in the fact that our people are
genuinely skilled in and fitted for self
the leadership OF those who seek to ex-
cite this ferocious and foolish class
antagonism.
MEANS TO BE FAIR
The average American knows not only |
that he himself intends to do about what
is right. but that his average fellow
has the same intention and
the same power to make his intention eff
f~ectiye. He knows, whether he be bust
ness man. professional man. farmer, me-
chanic. employer. or wage-worker. that |
the welfare of each of these men is bound
each is neighbor to the other. is actuated.
the same hopes and fears, has funda-
mentally the same ideals. and that all
alike have much the same virtues and
the SAME faults.
.Our average felIow-citizen is a sane
and healthy man, who believes in decency |
fore. feels an equal scorn alike for the
man of wealth guilty of h mean and
base spirit of arrogance toward those
who are less well on, for the man
feels or seeks to excite In others the
of mean and base envy for those
who are better OIL |
THE two feelings. IVY n arrogance.
are but opposite sides of the same shield. |
but different developments Of the same
spirit.
Fundamentally, the INSCRIPTIONS
rich man who seek to exploit and
those who are less well on
Is, I'm spirit, not opposed to, but ides-
,fcaI with, the INSCRIPTIONS poor
man who desires 10 plumber and p
press those who are better on.
TYPES IDENTICAL
.sThe ~courtier and the demagogue are
bnt developments of the same type under
conditions, each manifesting the
same serviIe spirit, the same desire to
rice nv wandering to base passions; though
n snders to power in the shape of a
single man and the otner 10 power IN the
of a muitituoe.
80 likewise The man who wishes to
rfse hv ~yronging others must by right be
contested. not with the man who like
wise rvishes 10 do wrong, though to a diff
49, ct of neople, but with the man who
wisbes tn do Justice to all people and to
wrong none
had Citizenship lies. not between the man
~ veaIfh who acts sQuarely by his fellows
nd tbe man who seeks each days wage
nv that DAVIS work. wronging no one and
5oing his duty by his nor yet
1oes this line of cleavage divide the un>
ser,In,lo1,s wealthy man who exploits |
others in his own interest, from the dema-
voe1,e or from the sullen. and envious
6es1g who wishes to attack all men of
whether they do well or H.
ha HA