Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-10-23

ually receding from the direction Of
affairs, and submitting to a current
that it can no longer control. but which
it may to a certain extent impede. The
other two classes are the real laborers:
with them lies the motive of progress
sion and the judgment to determine in
what particular direction change ought
to be effected.
For the loiterers. every change is
bad, and the whole of their practical .
function is to retard, to contrive OBJ
structions, to find impediments, and, if I
possible, TO prevent investigation. But /
for the two other classes, not only is .
the impulse necessary, but on them
lies the burden of devising new condi- /
tions. which shall be more beneficial
than the present conditions, of eXplor
ing, pioneering, preparing the way, and
/ finally of dragging onward the cumber-
some car of state, held back as it is
| by those who inherit from darker ages
the power of retardation.
| In politics the theorist and the prac-
teal statesman often appear to mis-
understand the bearings of their re-
| spective mission. The theorist, too
often trusting to his individual percep-
tons. forgets that propositions which
appear to him of absolute gertrude can
never be put in operation in a democ-
racy until the masses are convinced,
and though perchance he might evolve
some propositions which should ulti
mately be able to stand their ground.
experience bought with blood has prov
ed that the effusion of truth is abso-
lutely necessary to give rise to action;
like leaven, it must pervade the mass
before the requisite change is effected.
The millennium of political conditions,
as expressed in free institutions, will
never come about from without, but
from within. from self-restraint impOs-
ed by true knowledge and wisdom.
Free institutions suppose a condi-
ton of society which is incompatible
with ignorance and error-a condition
negative in its principles, positive in
its institution and Establishments
condition that has never yet been at
tanned, even in a tolerable degree, by
any nation under the dominion of ig-
norance, and never yet completely at
tanned in the United States.
A condition to be attained. not by
one great tumult, but gradually evolv-
ed and perfected with the lapse of
years
They are the result and ultimate end
of the great inherent process of pro-
> gressive evolution, which makes its
way with knowledge, sometimes ad,
5 vancing in peaceful steps, sometimes
> overturning barriers that stand in the
y way amid the din of revolution.
They are the conditions of society
t where will is excluded and law is made
on an objective reason. which has con
= vinced mans judgment that it is eQuit
able. 1t is a condition first to be de
: fined in its abstract form by the theo
Il Tist, and then be striven for by the
i masses; a condition that supposes
e great advancement and infinite benefit
4 to mankind, but condition that mus
i be purchased, and purchased only on
{ those terms which are prescribed by
Il the laws of mans constitution
II Where the masses are convinced Of
( the malignant character of certain con
( ditions and reason has shown how
% those conditions may be abolished, {
s change will come. 1t is not in the pow
E er of man to prevent it,
The change must come as a neces
IL sary consequence of mans constitu
o ton.
e. When a change for relief is sough
/ in a country like ours. that has attain
I ed to freedom of discussion and publ
u cation, and where (at least) universe
D. male suffrage prevails. that is, whert
u deliberate judgment and not mere will
u has the opportunity to rule, and where
ii exist legal and constitutional means o
II bringing about the desired change.
IL physical revolution is likely to be su
II perseded by the moral force of truth
= knowledge disseminated will convinc,
/ the Masses and when the masses ar,
convinced they combine under one pc
litical party or obtain control of one
: and when they have thus organized
IT the change, sooner or later. will follow
as necessary consequence.
But the conditions to be abolishe
necessarily involve the pecuniary il
s. terests of multitudes who desire thei
lie retention fully as eagerly as the ott
'e ers desire their abolition, and if no
already organized. they viii. form
n. political party or obtain the control G
es che, and thus the transition from tn
old order to the new order becomes tn
cause of relentless political struggI
Ih between the two elements.
OF 1t matters little under what name tn
p- contending parties enter the arena, G
how many parties enter the struggl,
nd or what the nature of their battle-cr,
re ultimately the practical contention wi
SIS narrow down to final struggle of tn
two orders.
or This is precisely what is taking plac
no today. Iii both Of the old parties a
lis internal struggle between the two eli
as ments took place. In the repubIica
party the partisans of the old ord,
49, retained control, and the friends Of II
- new order within were forced out an
mi 1d i4fr