El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-03-28

ligious fellowship and more tolerant
religious practices. / have spoken OF
social conditions, and how these are
interviewer in the social maladjuSt-
ments seen on all sides. / now turn
my attention to political unrest
I fully appreciate the task before
me. To adequately treat the different
subjects of our series would require
many series of lectures. / simply state
fundamentals, point out giarIng IN
stances. In g. single lecture can only
develop the main thesis, show the un-
deriving currents and point out the
tendencies leaving to your Judgment
the necessary conclusions and posi-
we recognize something radically
wrong in our political organization
Politics is not the honOred profession
Of European lands; the word "politi-
clan" has an evil connotation IN our
language. This wonderful experiment
of representative government seems TO
crumble under our touch and various
are the schemes advanced for sa1e
guarding the ship Of state
The ROsenthal murder IN New YORK,
the power Of a Tammany not only IN
New York, but the larger and small
Ter Teammates OF state, city and vii
1age throughout the land have aroused
the people. The close relation Of large
business interests with politicians ana
legislative bodies, the shadow of doubt
cast here and there upon the integrity
and honesty of our courts; all these
a
able and create political unrest
throughout the land. "A political rev.
olutiOn," says Walter Ldppmann, lis in
progress; the state as a policeman IS
giving. place TO the state as a pro-
Queer"
The True Basis OF the Struggle.
And what is the issue between the
various parties; what the solutions Of
fered2 'The PrOgressives tell US the
issue is between privilege and the
people Socialists tell US it is between
the working class and the master
class Others divide society into the
strong and the weak while some
there be who draw the line between
'Philistine' and Bohemian" And yet
the true basis OF all the struggle is
the eternal issue between honesty and
dishonesty, between those who regard
government simply as a matter Of rOu-
tine TO be blindly followed and those
who consider it as a continued develop
ment Of ever new problems demanding
solution.
And for a solution they deIve into
the dim and distant past, they call to
mind the happy conditions OF ancient
Greece and would apply ancient forms
10 modern conditions. But Bergson
has shown that life is an irreversible
process and for that reason its future
can never be a repetition Of the past"
plato and Aristotle" another writer
tells u.s. thought in terms OF 10000
homogeneous villagers; We have to
think in terms of a hundred million
people, of all races and all traditions,
croSSbred and inbred, subject TO ell
mates they have never lived in before,
pumped down on a continent in the
midst Of a strange civilization"
Our Problems Different.
The problems before US differ from
those solved by other people; the So
luton offered by ancient peoples must /
be thoroughly examined before applied
to modern conditions. What was val
liable for a small compact union may
be useless for large divergent pOpu-
latiOn. The rules and regulations Of
the home cannot be applied literally
to large orphan asylum The choice /
must be made" says David Jayne Hill,
between experience and experiment, !
between arbitrary discussions and
fundamental principles. in a word, be-
tween political anarchy and COnstitu-
tiOnal government"
Before considering some Of the pana-
ceas offered for political unrest we
must note the changed conception Of
the basis Of all political welfare. The
biological unit of human life" says
Prof. Schiller in the Hilbert Journal,
'is neither the individual nor the state,
but the family, and this truth must be
The basis Of political ac- /
tiOn is the individual and yet valU- /
able as is the vote of the individual I
TO decide majority opinion, the vel 4
fare of the individual and the welfare /
Of the state depend on the growth, de- /
honesty and honor of the /
family and family life. This simply !
means that the focus Of politics must /
shift from a mechanical to a human /
center" that the human factor in the /
realm Of politics must be appreciated /
more and more.
The Universal Political Error.
At the same time we would keep be-
fore US the universal political error,
that evil can be overcome by law.
Should wrong appear here or there and
business grow to vast magnitude, the
only known method TO correct the
md mo Of rcT-
ness is to legislate against them. Men !
try to stop drunkenness by closing the I
saloon; when pool rooms shock them 1
they call the policeman; II Haywood (
becomes annoying they procure an in
They meet the evils OF the
7ance han by barricadinE them; they
20 forth to battle against vice by raid
ing brOthels and timing prostitutes.
eor the trust there is the sherman law
Tn spite of all experience they cling
desperately to these superstitiOns." We
pass laws against Vagrancy5 but forget /
The vagrant, the human FACTOR; we
would wipe out poverty but forget the
poor people.
sven the best intentiOned laws will not
make law abiding and law deserving /
citizens. If it does anything it creates
/ contempt for law as law Many
avs are openly violated, other laws l
ire impossible Of enforcement. We
;hOuld not crowd our law books with /
avs good for a rural community, but
for the busy marts Of life.
lust imagine what would happen II
III the laws on our books were en-
orced2 We must educate the people /
o want good laws and then there will |
De no trouble to enforce them. Unless
political invention is woven into the |
.OciaI movement it has no Importance" |
Solutions Are Offered.
To quiet this political unrest some
solutions have been offered. I shall /
Mention only a few and entirely leave
mt those Of a philanChrOpic nature.
business and politics, poverty and poll
les are closely interviewer.
We would be rid of the cOnserva-
i've, restraining Influence in national
egislation by substituting the ac-
epted form of electing our senators
or popular election of United States
enatOrs. We feel that undue pres
ure has often been brought in elect
ne to this honor men who guard the
7elfare of certain interests" rather
han the rights Of the people Be this
urmise true or false. may not the
ault be. not in the method of electing
niteC States senators, but in the cali
or and character of the men sent to
he state law making body2 "If the
eOple cannot succeed in choosing
ustWOrthy legislators from among
heir neighbors win they be able to Sc
sct WOrthier SENATORS from among
ersOn whom they know only by
Hszl--