The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1912-05-23
AUTHORITY!


There must be authority or the world
will be in chaos. There must be author.
ity in the family, in the State and in the
nation. In the earliest pages of sacred
history, divine authority was established
by the Ten Commandments. States hav e
their constitutions, and the FEEDER al
government has it's fundame ntal laws.
framed more than century ago by the
most illustrious patriots of American
history.
Wherever authority is established, it
provokes resistance. The boy or the girl
who opposes parental restraint defies the
authority of the father and mother. The
thousands that crowd our State prisons
are there because they deied the author
ity of the State. Every one of them be-
lleves that he has good ex cuse for his
defiance. The more hardened the heart,
the firmer the conviction of the obdurate
man that he is right and everybody else
is wrong.
LET the people rulev' is the popular
cry. ''Give me my wayv" is the demand
of the willful child and the transgressor
of the law. The voice of the people is
of the demagogue, the self-seeker, the
bogus reformer, the experimenter with
patent-medicine nostrums for all the
various ills of society. Every one of
them is seeking the quickest path to
achieve notoriety.
We have preachers denying the in
errancy of the Scriptures, chur chmen
soothing at the inspiration of the pages
OF sacred history, college professors
challenging the foundations of society as
misplaced, ambitious statesmen demand
ing that the Constitution be rewritten
and that, at the whim of the people,
judges be subject to recall whenever
their decisions fail to please the crowd.
With the yellow press and muck raking
magazines joining in the clamor, the
people are being swept off their feet by
the resistless tide of revolutionary ten
denotes, common to mankind in all ages
and fraught with consequences unspeak-
able. The great political parties are
being dragged from their foundations A
new nationalism, born of unlawful we'd
lock, the progeny of socialism and an
archy, is asserting itself. The sacred
ness of the Constitution is no longer the
platform of the Democratic party, nor
the preservation of prosperity the plat
form of the Republican party. The
Constitution and prosperity are being
thrown to the wolves to save the cause
of "a pure democracy"
The Republican party has won every
victory it has had by standing not for the
fads of the moment, but for eternal
principles. 1t stood for human freedom
and elected Lincoln, for united country
and elected Grant, for sound money and
elected Harrison, for protection to cap
tai and labor and elected Mckinley and
brought the country that well-remem-
bered ano joyous period of mckinley
prosperity
In the mad race to catch the crowd, to
cater to this vote and that vote, to this
nationality or that religious element,
both OF the great political parties have
drifted far away from their moorings. 1t
is not surprising that murmurs of discon-
tent are heard on all sides, from thought
full men in every rank of life in both
parties, including the working masses,
the captains of industry and the master
builders among our constructive and con-
sentative statesmen.
Let the thoughtful people of this
country bestir themselves. There can
be no mistake as to the paramount issues
Of the moment. They do not concern
the nice distinctions of socialstic prob
lens growing out of our rapidly advanc-
ing civilization. They are not altogether
new. They cannot be solved in day
Only the Omnipotent could create a
world in six days. Our greatest problems
are of slow solution. We cannot sacrifice
safety to expectancy, only to find that
we must retrace our steps and seek the
right road again
Demagogues rant about a pure de-
mocracy and the peoples rights. They
paint glowing pictures about things that
never have been nor will be. They per-
pick the people with problems which
they call new, while they are as old as
the world, and that centuries have not
solved. They are urging the people to
follow the will O. the wisps, and a good
many are doing so. Yet there is not
man, woman or child in the country who
doesn't hunger for prosperity more than
for all the fads of our foolish time.
Our real problem is the common wei
fare of all the people, the full dinner
pail, the full flour barrel, the full bank
book, the full pay envelope, the full fac
tory, the full schoolhouse and the full
church. These are the things that make
for the common welfare, social moral
and political.
And we are for that party which, at
the approaching presidential election,
shall nominate its candidates on this
short, old-fashioned and always popular
platform-the platform that wins!-Les-
lies Weekly.