The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-02-04

III d democracy, private Initiative Is
at once the handspring of government
tai action and a check to the undue
encroachment of government upon the
field Of private enterprise.
\ In democracy, the initiative OF
every important movement for the
public good is in the private citizen.
The citizen without civic pride fur
nishes no motive for the public
good. Civic pride is the chief asset
or democracy. Democracy does not
mean ochlocracy; the rule of the peO-
pie does not mean the rule OF the mob.
In a commercial and industrial civ
lllzatlon. civic progress depends upon
the civic ideals of the business men;
civic honesty upon their standards Of
public conduct; governmental eff
cheney upon their attention to poli1-
cal problems,
In the long run, good government,
like successful business. rests upon
sound ethics. Honesty is the best pol
Icy. 1t is the only policy upon which
government or business in a large
sense can rest. Honesty integrates,
upbuilds; honesty distintegrateS. tears
down. Honesty, sound morals, high
ideals or conduct, make democratic
government possible, and preserve and
foster democracy. The Boss" as a
means Of facilitating public business,
exists because Of a lack of civic
pride. civic pride would remove the
need of an irresponsible political auto
crat to get legitimate things done.
I have heard corruption of a board
Of aldermen justified because it was
said that without purchasing the al
dermen the franchise was impossible
to get, and a great and needed public
Improvement would be lost. To what
such a code Of morals leads let st.
Louis and other cities tell. After all,
is Illicit intercourse between business
men and aldermen so much more rep
utable than between other law break
ers and the police? The price may
be higher but how about the moral
standard?
Civic pride says we will find some
way to get public improvements with
out condoning or participating in
fraud. Good government is a vital
commercial asset, and good demo-
cratic government is impossible with
out civic pride in the individual citi-
zen, a deep appreciation Of the dignity
and responsibility Of q democratic
citizenship. For what is a realized
democracy but a government of the
people and for the people through
agents and agencies selected by the
people? This means a sturdy individ-
ualism, a government evolved from
within responsible and responsive to the
governed, not a benevolent paternal-
Ism, or an irresponsible autOcracy i'm
posed from without. It means a people
supporting and energiZing government,
not a government supporting and con-
trolling Of the people.
The age-lOng struggle toward this
democratic ideal; the struggle Of the
governed to e0ntr01-the government,
he hos
and developed the power Of private
Initiative. The power and influence of
private initiative marks very accurate
" the progress towards democracy.
Our war Of independence was
started by private initiative and car
ried on by private enterprises. The
federal constitution that welded to-
gether the discOrdant thirteen states
was the result of private initiatives.
: The great moral movement for the
a. BOLTON of slavery in the territory Of
SNhe United States found it's original
Inspiration and derived its energiZing
force from the private citizen.
In our own times, the emancipation
of our civil service from the spoils
system, the enactment of laws to in
sure a secret ballot and an honest
count honestly announced on election
day; the present-day struggle to estab-
fish honest and open methods, easily
understood, through which nomina-
tiOns 10 public elective Office shall
cease TO be a part of the personal
property Of the autOCrat Of some poll
teal organization; the earnest effort
going on in hundreds Of our cities
throughout the country to achieve a
local government responsible and re-
spOnsive to the city's own citizens
all these and many other movements
for civic betterment have found their
origin and handspring in the initiative
of private citizens who neither hold
nor seek a public Office.
It IS the civic pride, the high civic
ideal of the private citizen, the con-
seriousness Of the dignity and worth of
democratic citizenship, the ennobling
effect upon the man himself Of the de-
termined effort to make his standard
of conduct accord with the lofty ideals
of democratic citizenship that alone
make possible a government of the
people, by the people and for the peo-
pie.
Civic pride is more than an asset;
st is the very soul OF democratic citi-
zenship. Without 1t, one is not, and is
not worthy TO be, a citizen in the
democracy. Civic pride makes one
strive to be an Affirmative positive
force for civic betterment. It makes
one appreciate that, If one wishes to
have a government responsible to the
governed he must fit himself, as one
of the governed, to enforce the respon-
sibility. He must actually help to
make the government what 1t should
be, not content himself to be governed,
complaining only when his pocket
nerve has neuralgia; nor to be salts
fed TO pour out criticism invective
without qualifying for good citizen
ship by taking active part in con-
structive work TO make the govern
ment better.
No man, whether born or naturaliZed
in the United States, is entitled to full
credentials as a citizen until he has
consciously done something that he be-
lieves viii make for the Improvement
of the government Of this country, his
state, his CITY. The degree of freedom
we enjoy, our fathers gave Us. 1t is to
their sacrifices, their efforts, that we
are not serfs and villains today as our
ancestors We're no longer ago than a
dozen lives Of the scripturaI span.
was reading recently the autobiography