Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-01
The Roman Republic.

recently L have been reading tho work
Of the eminent Italian scholar Ferrero on
the history of the Roman republic when
the life of the Roman state had become
that of a complex and luxurious industrial
civilization. I am happy to say that the
differences between that civilization and
our own are more striking than the resem-
blances; and there is no warrant for our
being drawn into any pessimistic COM
parison between the two civilizations. But
there is every reason why we should study
carefully the past in order to draw from it
lessons for use in the present. One of the
most striking features of the years which
saw the downfall of the Roman republic
was the fact that the political life of Rome
became split between two camps, one con-
tanning the rich who wished to exploit the
poor, and the other the poor who wished
to plunder the rich. Naturally under
such circumstances, the public man who
was for the moment successful tended to
be either a violent reactionary or a violent
demagogue. Any such condition of poit-
iCal life is hopelessly unhealthy now as
1t was then. l believe so implicitly in the
future of our people, because l believe
that the average American citizen will no
more tolerate government by a mob than
he will tolerate government by a plutoc-
racy; that he desires to see justice done
to and Justice exacted from rich man and
poor man alike. We are not trying to
favor any man at the expense of his fel-
lows We are trying to shape things so
that as far as possible each man shall have
a fair chance in life; so that he shall
have. so far as by law this can be accom-
plished, the chance to show the stuff that
there is in him. We have no intention of
trying to work for the impossible and un-
desirable end of giving to the lazy, the
thriftless, the weak and the vicious the
reward that belongs to. and In the long run
can only come to, the hard working, the
thrifty, the resolute, and the honest. But
we do wish to see that the necessary strug-
gle in life shall be carried on under genu-
inely democratic conditions; that so far
human action can safely provide it. there
shall be approximately fair start; that
there shall be oppression of the weak,
and that man shall be permitted to ac-
quire or TO vast fortune by methods
'or in ways that are tortuous and dishonest
Therefore, we need wise laws and we
need TO have them resolutely administered.
We can get such laws and such admins
tration only if the people are alive to their
interests. The other day l listened to an
admirable sermon by Bishop Johnston of
western Texas. His theme was that the
vital element in judging any man should be
his conduct, and neither his position
his pretensons; and. Furthermore, that free
dom could only stay with people which
has the habit of self-mastery. AS he said,
the price of liberty is not only eternal
vigilance, but eternal virtue; and 1 may
add, eternal common sense. Each man
here knows that he himself has been able
to use his freedom to advantage only pro-
vided that he could master himself, that he
could control his own passions and direct
his own faculties. Each of you fathers and
mothers here knows that If your sons are
to do we'll in the world they must know how
to master themselves. Every man must
have a master; if he is not his own master
then somebody else will be- This is just
as true of public life as of private life If
we cannot master ourselves, control our
selves, then sooner or later we shall have
to submit to outside control; for there
must be control somewhere.
Control Through the Laws.
One way of exercising such control is
through the laws of the land. Ours is a
government of liberty, but 1t is a govern
ment of that orderly liberty which comes
by and through the honest enforcement of
and obedience to the law. At intervals
during the last few months the appeal has
been made to me not to enforce the law
against certain wrongdoers of great wealth
because to do SO would interfere with the
business prosperity of the country. Under
the effects of that kind OF fright which
when sufficiently acute We call panic this
appeal has been made to me even by men
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