The Paducah sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1898-1906, 1904-03-28
THE RIGHTS OF THE CITIZEN

but In this country Wnere tucn man IL
king, that right belongs to the citi-
zen, and the of1iceholder exercises that
right because it is delegated to him by
the citizen.
A government of the people. and
for the people, and by the people"
can be maintained, only, when tins
fact is constantly asserted; the peo-
pie are sovereign and the offioeholder
is the servant of the people.
Onceholders frequently forget this
fact, and arrogate to themselves power
which does not belong to them, and
because the people, having at the
ballot box delegated this power to
them, are busy with their own affairs,
hey take it for granted that this en-
croachment on the rights of the people
will not be noticed or resented; but,
history points to the fact, that you
may fool all men sometimes, and some
men all the time, but, you cannot fool
all men all the time" The "dear
people, which the ofiiceseeker ad-
dresses in such endearing terms be-
fore the election and at which he
snaps his finger with contempt after
the election, will endure great deal
of neglect on the part Of their ser.
wants, but, in good time thore will
be q reckoning and in this reckoning
the officeholder Is always the loser.
This principle holds good in every
instance where authority is delegated
in government. and in the United
States. il is omDipresent from the
president, to the mayor Of the small
est city, AMI from congress to the
council of that city.
The mayor rules by the right of the
people, and for the people; the coun-
cilmen makes laws, and ordinances
for the same reason; neither mayor,
nor councilman have the right to rule
as individuals; they represent the peo-
Pile in every act and that this may be
true the people should be consulted in
every instance and their wishes com
piled with; in IA special sense is this
true when the people have petitioued,
in any given case.
There are at least two instances in
this OF ty where the rights of the citi-
zen have bfen ignored, in n most fla.
grant way; twice during the last few
years has the council been peti'ioned
by the people in certain wards, not to
grant saloon Incense within the pre-
soribed district, and although in one
recent instance, everv citizen. white
and black, signed the petition, the IL
cense was granted
This leads us to ask the question.
Whose servant is the council? The
citizens or the saloon keepers; Now
these people exercised their God given
rights when they instructed their ser
wants" the members of the city couu-
Gil" how they should act-and yet the
council acted contrary TO their wishes
in the premisesl
Can one man. who for purely mer
cennry reasons dc sirts to run q saloon
in given locality. defy the wishes Of
all the citizens Of that locality. simp-
ly, beause the city council has
granted him the right TO do so. with
ont consulting the rights Of the con
stituents?
This is the grave question that
confronts the citizens Of this city
whether we shall have the right to
protest and petition and instruct the
council, when man, for any motive
whatever desires to depreoiate the
value OF our property, render unsafe
the neighborhood Of our homes, de-
morslize our society and debauch our
young people-by placing saloon in
our midst against our wishes? wheth-
er we shall be represented by our SER
wants, the ofiiceholders" from the
mayor of our city to the policeman on
the corner in this assertion OF our
God.giyen privileges, or whether
these servants of the people shall be-
tray their trust and play into tho
hands of tho worst enemy of the "dear
people"-the Saloon?
Again, when the people have given
their servants the authority to grant
license TO saloons under certain limi-
tations, and have instructed them to
make laws guarding the interests OF
| the people in the conduct of these "a