The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1913-04-10

any uouy lO pTy lnIO our own DuS1- |
ness. We will fight, if need be, to
preserve our independence, both as
individuals and as a nation. We may
be coaxed, but we can never be com
PEELED! And this is right; it is as
1t should be. This concession we
you, the reader, and 1, the writer, of |
this paperMmay legitimately make
to our vanity: 1t Is a species of van
ity Of which we have right to be
proud!
But all of this is no argument
against compulsory education law.
1t does not bear upon the real question
at all. Have you ever stopped to
think that all law is compulsory ?
What! All law is compulsory? Ger
tainly. There is not law on the
statute books Of South Carolina that
Is not compulsory law. Else, why
the penalties attached? Most as
suredly, we have compulsory hon
esty, compulsory purity, compulsory
justice, compulsory benevo!ence!
Then why not compulsory education
1t is no more un-American than any
other law. If we can be true and
genuine Americans, If we can retain
our vaunted freedom, and yet at the
same time enact laws restraining
homicide and stealing and gambling
and selling Intoxicating beverages
and cruelty to dumb brutes, then
where does the inconsistency creep
in when we enact law restraining
the worst of all weaknesses, namely,
ignorance? o consistency, thou art
in every truth a jewel.
Let us no longer delude ourselves.
nor permit ourselves to be longer
deluded by this sort OF nonsense. 1T
is time for us to wake up, and see
things straight! Freedom is a word
to conjure with: how many crimes
in the history of the human race have
been committed in it's sacred name!
In the past, rivers of blood have been
shed in the name of freedom-in-
eradicablel bitches upon the fair
page of history. And at the pres
ent the word has lost nothing of it's
witchery. Let a rafting politician
harangue us for an hour, Justify pro-
claiming himself as the champion,
and the sole champion, of our freedom,
and we are ready to rise in arms
and follow wheresoever he leads.
Let him but shout in stentorian
tones that a proposed law will take
from us our God-given freedom, and
we throw up our hats in honor of
the far-seeing statesman who has
so effectually safe guarded our liber-
ties. For our freedom must be pre-
served at all costs! This is not a
caricature of what happens in politi-
cal campaigns; it is a simple state
ment of the fasts. Is it not high
time for us to call halt and do lit
tie thinking, serious and sober think
ing?
Now, in all candor, what is free
dom? Is it really worth having?I
If you will consider for a moment.
you will see that the answer to the
second of these questions depends
entirely upon the answer to the first:
for, obviously, before we can tell
whether a thing is worth having we
must know what it is. But, is it /
possible that freedom should mean
anything but freedom Certainly.
Freedom may mean just the opposite
of freedom, and not tnfrequently
does
There are two types of freedom,
and they are as different as day and
night. The one conception has abso-
lutely nothing to do with the other. |
In the first place, there is a concep-
tion of freedom which makes it con-
sist in obedience to law. This is
what may, for convenience be called
limited freedom. 1t is the freedom
which characterizes the law-abiding
citizen of the United States of Ameri- |
ca. He is free to go where he
peases, within certain limits, and to |
do what he pleases, within certain |
limits. This we usually mean by
freedom. You will not fail to notice,
1 am sure, that freedom in this sense |
is hedged about well-defined limita-
tions. An American citizen is free
to go where he pleases and to do what |