The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1912-10-11

"luoW. Wnen his colleagues solicited
MIN to sell his vote he refused, and
finally became SO persistent about il
that he refused even when the price
was raised on him. The rest of the
bunch became fearful that his refusal
would establish a precedent, and thus
interfere with future sales, and the
prospect made them so furious that
they were preparing to make short
work OF this young hereto, imbued as
he was with those old played-out, Jes-
fersonian fallacies, that the people
have right to voice in the disposal
OF their own property; but, about this
time, the Burns detective, after hav-
ing paid the aldermen in marked mon
ey, arrested the whole gang and put
them in jail, where they are to this
day, and complaining bitterly that
this cussed Incarceration is going to
mitigate against their chances for re-
election
Even the newspapers finally turned
against them, after one Schreiter, one
of their number. turned states evil
dence, one paper saying the actions Of
the council We're i'll advised, and an
other went so far as to say that the
whole affair was of doubtful propriety.
However, look for them to modify
such extreme statements, as the
newspapers up here never tell an un-
truth
The republican papers say that vii
son is fiend in human form. The
democratic papers say that Teddy is
chicken thief, and Taft is an Uni
tartan, and they all tell US in their adj
vertising sections how to cure our
selves Of tuberculosis, epilepsy and
cancer by taking the pure patent med
icines advertised by them, made en-
tirely OF roots and herbs why be
sick?"
I have been reading with interest
your bout with socialism.
Everybody tries hand al political
diagnosis, so here is mine:
All mundane things are constantly
changing There is no creation. no
disappearance, but everlasting trans
formation. \ system projected for :
handful OF Puritans may be right in
its inception. but to meet the require
ments Of the complexities Of today Il
must have in its makeup the capacity
of normal growth Fixed constitu-
tons except they be confined in their
scope 10 the simple guarantee OF a
few fundamentals, are a nuisance, a.
are fixed dogmas in religion, whic1
grows and changes. like everything
else. Governments, to endure. must
be flexible enough to meet the chang
ing need of the constituency, skiuful
enough to discover them and honest
enough TO guarantee justice to the
weak as against the strong and pre-
datory
All governments are continually I'M
derging revolution, either peaceable
or violent Those that remain are
those that blend to meet the require
ments of the proletariat Correct gov
eminent is not something handed
down from above; it is an evolution
from below. 1t is not a matter of
crafty lawyers searching for prece-
dents, but it is a matter of skill in
reading the significance of the deep,
elemental sociological movements Of
humanity
With us politics has become a trade
in the hands of tricky shysters; it's
too disgraceful for an ordinary citi-
zen to smirch himself with.
Taxation in some parts is already
almost confiscatory, and getting
worse on the average man, while the
custodians Of bloated fortunes, roll
ing in wealth. sneeringly hand out. as
aims to a beggar. a pittance of taxes
on a small fraction OF their holdings.
! We boast of having no kings, yet
! Guggenneim. Armour. Morgan, Rock
efeller and their like. as the respect
! i've heads Of great predatory organiza-
j tons, dictate to US that price of abso-
/ Lutte necessities Of life, like meat, OIL
sugar -four and tobacco, with an arbi-
trary insolvence by no means equal
ed by Nicholas of Russia We have
/ no les majesty. simply because there
/ is nothing to aim it at Our real kings
are legion. but they are not out in
the open, risking assassination They
are skullling behind disguised thrones
and they have this advantage, that
they are not responsible for the out
come.
1t is absurd to compare conditions
here. where a magnificent and fertile