Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-03-19
NOT A PROGRAM OF PROGRESS,
BUT A PROPOSAL OF Pr
OF Pr
By Bishop w. 4. Gambler

man hath; and If that be true, It
must follow that the scarcity of
things which man hath does not
impoverish his life nor vitality affect
his real well-betng. Lazarus in his
utter restitution has more of life than
the rich man feeding upon dainties and
attired in fine linen. Why should we
make such an ado about mere things?
What do the ''progressives" propose
to leave behind in going out after this
crusade for mere things? They are
proposing TO cast behind them every
shred of representative government,
and reduce our republic to the level
of a turbulent Greek democracy, in
which an irresponsible and passionate
majority may trample upon the most
sacred rights of minorit1es without the
restraints of settled constitutions or
the Intervention of unterrified courts
of Justice This is the meaning of
all this talk about initiatives" ref
erendums," and recall of judges,
when it is reduced to it's last analysis
Such a program, if successful. does
not mean progress, but retrogression
to a state of things which was found
intolerable in the small democracies of
Greece centuries ago 1t proceeds on
the assumption that what the major
that the minority has no rights which
the majority is bound to respect. AS
a matter of fact everybody knows that
the most dangerous and constituencies
tyrant possible is an inflamed major
ity, excited by the appeals of dema-
gogue, and bent on Selling the prop
erty of another or taking vengeance up
on him for some real or imaginary
wrong alleged to have been done by him.
Law, clothed with the majesty of
wisdom, justice, and moderation, can
not be expected to flow from the
smelling pot of an angry mob. 1t
must be framed and fashioned where
the voice of reason can be heard and
the demands of righteousness are re-
garded. While Moses was gone to the
holy mountain for law, Aaron held
some sort of initiative and referendum
in the plain below. Hear his own ac-
count of it, when the people by their
own initiation had elected a calf of
gold for a god and falsely said, This
is thy God o Israel, which brought
thee up out of the land of Egypt" EX-
planning the case to Moses, the plant
Aaron said of the gold of which the
stupid calf was made: II cast it into
the fire and there came out this calf"
Good laws can no more come from such
of Aaron's furnace The people them
Selves even, when -actuated by the pur-
est motives and guided by the clear
est intelligence, can not. devise wise
laws in a heated campaign.
Moreover consultations are the codi-
fed forms of sacred principles to which
the people, in moments of calm and
conscientious deliberation, pledge in
violable devotion, assuring all con-
cerned that these principles shall not
be broken by any majority, however
great. Disinterested courts are then
established to hear cases Involving
these principles, and say to all parties
that these principles can not be in
fracted. Under such a governmental
ARRANGEMENT there is security for the
life, liberty, and property of every
man, however humble he may be and
however numerous and powerful may
be those who seek to Cypress him. But
if an angry majority can order laws a =
will, and then direct courts what inter-
probation to put upon the laws thus
made in heat and haste, who is safe in
the exercise of any right whatsoever?
Human rights, property rights, and
eternal right are all then made subject
to the fitful passions of a majority,
played upon by artful demagogues or
corrupted by the brides of conscience
less plutocrats. Neither big business,
little business, nor any other sort of
business can know what to depend
upon when law is so made and so en-
forced.
This so called progress" is nothing
less than proposal to lynch represent
alive government in our country ana
apply mob law to individual freedom.
1t is bad enough in all conscience when
an excited and conscienceless mob
lynches a man, whether he be evil or
good; but when prominent men seek
office on a platform which proposes the
lynching Of the law itself, we have
surely reached the limit. 1t is time for
all men who love the country and care
for righteousness to tell the revolution
lists that we will have none of their
folly. The institutions of our repre-
sentative government have cost too
much to have them, over-thrown in the
name of a spurious claim of progress"
which throws both conscience and rea-
son to the wind in the interest of the
unbridled ambition of office-seekers or
terical reformers., seas
The program proposed is not a move
ment of progress. but a movement to-
ward political ''pi" when a block of
type from which "a page has been
printed is broken up into its constit-
uent letters, the letters so disinte
grated are called "pi'' by printers. Such
a disarrangement of type really makes
chaos out of that which previously
read intelligibly. That is what our
pseudo-progressives are proposing
POLITICAL CHAOS. Their pro-
gramme is a progress towards pr.