Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1912-04-11

D6on tyrannloS Dy minority, CnaC ID,
tyranny by privilege. Sometimes, as
in the case of some public utility
franchise or other bit of grabbing by
a few what belongs to the many, the
tyranny is primarily commercial; at
other times, it is primarily political.
This, for instance, is true just at the
present day IN those states where the
people have been denied the right to
vote at primaries in order to express
their preferences for president. By
tn way, ludicrous feature of the
Michigan situation has been that the
men who denied the right of the peo-
pie to vote at the primaries did it by
passing the primary law in such shape
that it would only take effect after the
latest date that primaries could be
held to elect delegates to the conven-
ton in June. This represents a mere
ly meaner form of opposition to the
movement for public decency than
would have been straight-out vote
against the entire proposition.
Duties of the Representatives.
In a government like ours, our rep.
resentatives do not rule us in tho
sense that a monarch or an aristo-
cracy bears rule over the people. We
the people rule ourselves, and what
We really want from our representa-
tives is that they shall manage the
government for us along the lines we
lay down, and shall do this with eff
cheney and in good faith. We welcome
leadership and advice, Of course, and
we are content to let experts do the
expert business to which we assign
them without fussy interference from
us. But the expert must understand
that he is carrying out our general
purpose and not substituting his own
for It. The leader must understand
that he leads us, that he guides us, by
convincing us so that we will follow
him or follow his direction. He must
not get it into his head that 1t is his
business to drive us or to rule US.
His business is to manage the govern
ment for us. To illustrate what
mean, take the Panama Canal under
Col. Goethals. That has been the big
gest job Of the kind ever undertaken
by any nation, the biggest piece Of
engineering work ever attempted in
the world. After trying several ex-
periments, we finally found in Col.
Goethals the man who could do the
job, and we set him to work, and he
has nearly done it-and no job Of the
size has ever been done better. We
have been delighted to give him q
free hand and let him manage the
whole affair. But we first of all de-
cided that we wanted canal, and
that we wanted it in Panama, and
that we wanted 1t of given type, and
then set Col. Goethals to work to real
ize those various wishes of ours. Well,
what is true of Col Goethals is true
of all other public officials, from .
justice Of the peace and an alderman
up to the president and the chief JUS
tice Of the United States. There Is
not any one Of them who is ruling US.
We are ruling ourselves. Each one Of
them is managing his special bit OF
| work in the public interest, just ex-
actly as Col Goethals is managing the
building of the Panama Canal in the
public interest. We rule ourselves,
and we choose our representatives not
to rule us but to manage the public
business for us along the lines we
men who disbelieve in the rule Of
the people, and who think that the
people should be ruled by part Of
them (for to call such a part "a rep
resentative part is entirely meaning
less), treat the constitution as q
straight jacket for restraining an UNI
| ruly patient-the people. We on the
| contrary treat the constitution as an
instrument designed to secure justice
through giving full expression to the
deliberate and well-thought-out judg-
ment of the people. They are false
friends of the people, and enemies Of
true constitutional government, who
| endeavor to twist the constitution
aside from this purpose.
Genuine Popular Rule Imperative.
We are engaged at the presert day
in great struggle for social and in
| dustrial justice in this country, and
our chief opponents in this struggle
are the powers of pillage, the powers
that profit by privilege at the expense
of the rights of the plain people as a
| whole. advocate genuine popular
rule in nation, in state, in CITY, in
county, as offering the best possible
means for eliminating special privi-
lege alike in politics and in business,
and for getting genuine equality Of
opportunity for every man to show
the stuff there is in him. l do not de-
mand equality of reward. There is
wide inequality of service and where
this is the case it is but just that
there should be inequality Of reward,
for it would be the rankest kind Of in
| Justice to reward the man who rem
| ders worthless service as we'll as we
| strive, however inadequately, to re-
| ward him who renders service that is
| literally priceless. But l do ask that