Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-08-29
RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHT"
By BISHOP W. A. CANDLES.

may contain matter which the parents
do not and ought not to approve, they
must nevertheless send their children
to school and allow them to be instruct
ed out of these books. A man of large
means may be able to escape such an
| imposition on his children by sending
them away to some private school; but
| the man of small means must consent
under penalty of the law to have his
children funneled with an educational
decoction compounded by the civil au-
thorities. A. may be doubted if the ed
vocational drenching of children, with or
without the consent of their parents, is
| worth as much to the state as the
maintenance of the sanctity of parent
hood. 1t may be well enough to draw
| the necks of mule colts over limb, and
drench them betimes without the con-
sent of their parents; but children have
better ancestry. If we continue in
the direction in which we nave been
travelling for some time past, it will not
be long until free text books and the
free transportation of the children TO
| the free SCHOOLS will be demanded. Then
the parenthood of fathers and mothers
| will be swalled up by a huge govern
mental parenthood.-the PAPAHOOD of
local politicians, POLITICAL PAPA
CY.
We of the South have always oppos
ed paternallsm by the federal govern
ment. and as against it we have assert
ed the doctrine of the sovereignty or
the states. But just because we have
CLAIMED so earnestly that the states
/ have rights which the federal govern
ment may not impair we may easily
imagine that the states have rights So
! great and imperious that the rights OF
Il I<.A - ~
state government, Under our theory
of government federal authority has no
power not expressly conferred by the
! constitution, while the states have all
4 powers not denied to them by the con-
| stitution nor reserved to the people. But
there are many rights which must be
forever reserved to the people. and the
j effort to encroach upon those rights is
an effort at tyrrany and oppression
which must be resisted.
We have gone about as far in the
direction OF Infringing the right of the
individual to his property as is safe or
just. Many good things we must leave
to individual initiative and benevolences
to do. If they can not be accomplished
lin that way. they can not be accomplish
ed at all. AT any rate, the attempt of
the state to do every thing, and to con-
fscate any amount of property by the
/
all sorts OF things, however good in
themselves those things may be. begins
In Injustice to the Individual and ends
In injury to. the commonwealth.
Policies which accustom the people to
4 run to the state to- do every thing for
them foster thea disposition to pick the
pockets of our neighbours by law when
ever we desire any thing which we can
i by our colour or argument claim as
4 public good Such policies beget in the
minds of the people the false idea that
4 all good can be had by legislation and
all evil averted by additional laws. Once
that idea possesses them. the widest OPP
portunity is opened for the easy success
of the appeals of demagogues. Nothing
lis then needed for those parasites Of
popular. government to do in order to get
place but to picture to the people some
lreal or imaginary good and promise to
get it from the government for them in
exchange for their votes. How often al
ready have the people been thus bribed
by promises of demagogues to loot the
public treasury In the interest of the
people whose taxes I'LL 1t!
/ The truth is that the public treasury is
now looked upon by many as limitless
REORGANIZATION of money for the enrich
\ ment of the people. But as matter of
fact the public treasury IS, or ought to
DC, ai~pdupeT lot WHICH, dIlLludA NNheC-
tions. called taxes, must be raised: and
no more ought to be taken as taxes out
of the pockets of the citizens than is
required for good government honestly
and economically administered. 1t will
be fatal to our system of government
and to our civilization II the people are
/ encurageds to- demand that the public
Treasury shalt supply all their wants. The
I Rmans ffeacheU that point. and cried with
Unsuitable greed for bread and games at
public expense. Then the Roman COM
Imonweath vas corrupted and destroyed.
| Demagogues swarmed on all sides prom
ising any thing and every thing, and
angry mobs determined by unreasonable
( demands tile things TO be promised. When
4 a republic is filled with politicians who
will promise any thing TO get Office and
people who will demand any thing from
the public treasury, II is in the last
stages of mortal Consumption Is not
! our republic in danger OF coming into
Isuch condition?
l Let us have done, therefore, with all
this loose talk about the conflict between
human rights" and property rights.
The right to own property is human
fright and it conflicts with no other just
i right whatsoever. 1t Is sacred right,
and 1t may not be set aside at any mans
whim, nor may 1t be ruthlessly disre-.
garded by majorities. We may not use
fthe ballot box to rob our neighbors any
more than we may employ box of bur-
glars tools for the same purpose.
-o,;ff ,.aforpo ,1ndnr a Ranuhlican