The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1907-01-14


ment2 This question is well answer
ed, both in me Declaration Of Inde-
pendence and IN our Federal consti.l
tuition The former declares that theI
inaiienahie rights d men are those of
life, liberty and the pursuit OF happt-
ness, and that 20 secnre these rights
governments are instituted among
men. deriving their Just powers from
the consent of the governed. aud that
whenever any form Of government be
comes destructive Of these ends 1t tsl
the duty OF the people to alter or aboi.
ish:it, and institute a new government
that will more likely effect their safe
~ and happiness. The Constitution
in It's preamble, which preamble may
be said to contain both the reason and
purpose OF its creation, declares that
the government was formed to "es-
tabllsh justice, insure domestic tran
guilty, provide for the common de-
tense, promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings OF liberty to-
ourselves and our posterity." The
whole purpose may be summed up in
the phrase '"the gonerela welfare"
Whatever the government can do bet
ter for the people than they can do
for themselves, the. government ought
to do. 1t is their agent; the govern.
ment was made for them and not they
for the government. know of no
criterion whereby to Judge of the pro-
rriety Of the enactment of any statute,
than that OF the general welfare" II
on the whole the general welfare will
be best promoted by the enactment OF
any proposed law, that is sufficient rea-
son for its enactment. The prospect
ty and happiness Of the people and the
general welfare are synonymous terms.
The purpose Of the government is to
promote these. II it does not promote
these, or is destructive of them. the
evil should be corrected, not blindly,
rash1y. thoughtiessfy, but sanely and
conservatively. Before the general
welfare all private rights must give
way. The British government has
found It necessary in order to promote
the general welfare of the Irish peo-
J Pile to pass stringent laws relating to
the leasing OF lands in Ireland. where
the lands were held in large bodies
and the most of the people were land
less. The terms upon which the lands
are rented to the people are prescrib'
ed by law, and the whole subject reg
ulated in manner that would under
present conditions not be tolerated in
this country. But 81 we had the same
conditions in this country that they
have in Ireland, such law would not
only be justifiabfa but imperative. The
ieoyernment has found it best to trans
port the mails; this could be done by
private enterprise. SO far. however.
the government has left us to the mer-
Icy of express and telegraph compa-
MES, which charge US extortionate
prices. Express companies seem to
be unnecessary. In the first place they
pay the railroad companies probably
SUFFICIENT sum to cover the cost OF
the service. II you happen to have a
package that is carried over two ex'
press lines. you are informed that the
excessive charges are caused by the
fact that you did not have your freight
shipped by one line exclusively = a
soothing consolation. Telegraph com,
panies' charges are also excessive.
We are longsucering people. or else
we would never tolerate the paying OF
two and one.half cents a word for a
message. for instance. from Charles
ton TO Huntington, q distance of fifty
miles. The telegraph companies,
however, must earn enough money to
pay large dividends on very large
amount Of watered stock. The tete.
graph AMI express companies are prac'
ticaliy monopolies; at least the public
gets no benefit from any competition
THAT may exist; but when we come to
| Tue ltItpublG VIC 44AA hheSS SotAPSNt
ltion increases our charges. II yo1
have but one telephone company III
your city, the rates are very high usu
ally; in order to get competition the
people give franchise to another
company; when you have two tele
phone companies, most persons are
obliged to have two telephones instead
of one, and the last estate is worse
than the first. This is conspicuously
a case in which competition does moi
lower the cost. Nov, the individual
man is powerless to help himself in
this condition of affairs. He naturally
looks TO the government, which. as q
good citizen. he cheerfully supports
He owes to st that duty. On the 9th
err hand, the government owes to him
the duty OF protection; the duties Of
the citizen and the government are re
c!procal. The government which does