Yazoo City herald. [volume] (Yazoo City, Miss.) 1878-1976, 1914-09-25
The Privileged Sons of Mary.

We take the following from an III
terview with Secretary Of the In
terror Frank Lam, printed in the
Saturday Evening Post. II is so
truly Democratic IN its doctrine, 80
in line with Jcffersoniao traditions
which finds rs expression in the rue
Of the people as against the rule Of
the politicians, and 80 in keeping
with what the editor Of the Hera'd
believes with all his soul. that we re-
produce II for tho benefit OF cur
readers. The following IL the TX
tra.t,
"lyhcn | was n hoy, studying law
/, California ! wrp,c a series ot al
Il ics protesting ~ ~; the appli-
cation Of the doctrine OF riparian
rights TO arid country. The s,andpat-
ters of that day desired that the old
English idea should Obtain in condi-
tions to which il was foreign. Cali
fornia would stIl be q country OF
wheat fields and cattle ranges almost
exclusively if we hadn't changed the
law and given the water to those who
could put it to the highest beneficial
use.'
His cigar was out by this time, and
he used Il for q baton, beating time
az he said:
"Usc! Use! Use! That's the word J
emphasizc-usc! We have too much
land that is not used, and too muca
water. and too many people VINO
think they belong by divine right to
the class Kipling describes os the
Sons Of Mary The world and the
things therein belong to the people
who use them, not to the people who
want to speculate with them or to
monopoize them, and to allow their
own personal fortunes to be the one
test as to when and how they shall te
used. There is no real objection to
monopoly II monopoly is the pubic
servant and not the public dictator
The greatest wrong thing in our life
today is the feeling Of the workers
that they are not really working for
themselves, They get no response
from their work except the pay en-
velopc at the end of the week.
ave have too much long-range
fighting. We don't sec our shots hit, |
went out with the fleet last year and
we shot ut an imaginary enemy that
was nearly out of sight. 1t was long
time before we knew whether we had
hit. That is modern warfare of all
kinds. The imagination will have to
expand great deal before that kind
Of fighting Is popular That is the
treason why monopoly, even il regu-
lated must be held down, because
there are whole lot of us who want
to see our shots hit, who want to get
some direct comeback from our work,
and want to feel some of the thrill Of
the producer, whether artist or arti-
san.
"If we take from men the salts
faction Of seeing their completed
work and treating with it as their
own-which modern industrial life
does-we must expect demands for
substitutes; for guarantees against
poverty and sickness; for short hours
of labor; for plenty Of time for the
expression of the individual in sports
and other things. IL work is TO be de
prived Of imagination, initiative and
human interest we must supply other
fields for the play Of imagination, in
itiative and human interest That's all
there is to ii,
"The conservation Of mans pride
in his work is the best kind OF consor-
walton: and the land law or the COM
mercial system that kills or dwarfs
that pride is inimical to the best in
terests Of the race. We are in a !
period of change No one can tell |
with precision just what the coudi- |
ton Of our society will be in another I
generation or two; hut that is no rea
son for standing still and refusing to
permit the development Of water
power, the retaining of lands, or the
fullest utilization Of our resources,
No one can be sure he is alays
right. Only the adventurous succeed,
l am against that conservation which
lies the hands of the present because
of its fear for the future | am for
that kind of conservation which
means a reasonable utilization now.
without putting too big a mortgage
on the future