Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1913-04-04
Delivers Timely Talk.


neyed to Trenton, N. j., last Friday and in
a speech to the members of the Assembly
clearly told them that they were as guilty
Of crime as if they stole somebody's money
il they failed to keep faith with the people
by ignoring their platform pledge to enact
a jury reform law for that State. He said
Il have found, and am not stating it
as discovery. for ! am sure you have
found it also, that there are two points of
view from which all questions affecting |
mankind are considered one the aristo- |
cratic point Of view. and the other is the |
democratic point Of view And so. when |
we come to consider government, we find |
these two points Of view. and some con-
sidering government from one standpoint
and some from another. and it is true also
Of every form Of government.
Even a representative form of govern
ment will find adherence among those who
believe in the aristocratic idea, as well as
among those who believe in the demo-
cratic idea, but ii makes a great deal OF
difference whether a representative ac-
cepts one Of these views or another it
makes great difference to him, and it
makes great difference to those whom
he has been selected to represent.
THE aristocratic idea Of representative
government is that the public themselves
are not intelligent enough to think. but that
they are intelligent enough to select people
to think for them. and those who hold this
view regard the Legislators as a sort OF su-
perior being selected by the masses to re-
lieve them Of the burden Of thinking and
to think for them and to do for them that
which the representatives think ought to
be done. That is the aristocratic view.
The democratic view is that the people
ought to think for themselves and then
select representatives who will carry out
what the people want done.
IN other words. according to the demo-
cratic view. the representative is the spokes-
man Of the people and 1t is his duty to
speak what the people would speak. to do
what the people would do. need not tell
you that lean toward the democratic view
Of this subject" The crowd laughed and
applauded this bit Of alusion to the speak
er's own tendencies.
Now. the view that have presented, g
he continued. "as the democratic view is
the view that representatives take during
the campaign the aristocratic view is the
view that they take after election. think |
have never known man to run for office
in this country who announced in advance
Of his election that the men who had sense
enough to vote for him would not have
sense enough to know what he ought to do.
but after the election we do find that men
become what they call conscientious : that
is. they say that they cannot 'conscien-
tiously' do this. that the people have asked
for.
Now. ! would be the last one to dis
credit conscience. II ! did am afraid |
would not stand as close to the President
as do. for am sure that the President
places the highest emphasis upon the con-
science. and would not admire him as
do " did not believe that he went to the
limit in believing that conscience should
control man. But this is my view on
the subject. a mans conscience ought TO
work all the time. and cannot admire the
statesman whose conscience hibernates
during the campaign an then blossoms
out after the election.
Now. we adopt platforms because we
recognize that the representative is elected
to represent. II the representative was
elected to think for the people we would not
hamper him with instructions to think.
When we adopt platform we maintain
that the people have right to think. and
they have a right to tell their representa-
tive what he shall do. and II platform is
not binding II is fraud A platform that
is not binding is like the written represen-
tation upon which a man obtains money
and subjects himself to prosecution for OBJ
tanning il under false pretenses.
"A platform that is not binding ought
never to be written. A platform is written
because IL is expected to be binding. and.
when say that man ought to follow his
conscience and follow his platform. am
not stating contradictory truths or making
statements which conflict. How can the
statements be reconciledi Very easily.
Ought a man do after election what his
conscience forbidsi God forbid. would
not for moment ask any man to violate
his conscience but what ! do suggest is