Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1914-02-06
REFoRMERs AND REFoRMERs


Time was when reformer was a
man who initiated great movement
for freedom-freedom of thought,
freedom of speech, freedom of the
press, and other inalienable rights.
He broke the shackles of tyranny, and
liberated the people from the mani
cles of suppression, knowing that
even though as remuneration for
his work he would probably be burn
ed alive; yet great works usually
arise from the ashes of greater
dreams.
Met on every hand with Kisses and
contumely, he possessed an invulner-
able indifference to popularity; i'm
PEELED only by heroic convictions, ne
counted not his own dear life. Such
luen were genuine-"Men whom the
lust of office could not buy, nor fame
moi, applause nor gold.
But, alas, reformation today has OBJ.
viously descended into mere pro
fession, impelled in some cases by 9
gluttony for notoriety, and in others
by pecuniary considerations.
The latest type of reformer is ar.
tifically manufactured by certain
SCHOOLS" and societies" which arbi-
trarily graduate it's candidates in the
craft and craze of Investigation" il
the fine art of Undertaking. Il
these pseudo performers can make 6
big Exposure, their future is Sc.
cured; if they can stir up sufficient
agitation to create demand for some
more hastily framed-up ordinances OF
| Legislation, they have achieved what
this day and age calls greatness
Thereafter their income is limited on
| ly by their power to exaggerate facts
misinterpret statistics and make 6
sensation.
When one contemplates the money
these reformers CD receive anc
spend in dress, automobiles, pullman
cars, banquets, ETC., one marvels al
the contrast between the reformel
that was and the reformer that is.
Restraint, prohibition and socialism
is quite the order of the day. There
is an abnormal tendency just now tc
reduce the rights and privileges of the
individual and to enlarge the function
of the state. The effect is already
becoming apparent IN the reduction
of personality to nllipution dimen.
sions and powers. This abnorma
legislative paternallsm will soon have
us mollycoddled into imbecility. Mer
of initiative owe their strength te
the oppositions they encounter and the
difficulties they have overcome. Pos.
tive character develops moral fibel
and sinew only when it has something
to resist.
Of the making of laws there is nc
end, but there is limit beyond which
they cease to be virtue. Abnormal
or unreasonable legislation arouses
only a spirit of disrespect and law
lessness. We are assured by such
authorities as Hume, Green, Froude
and Lecke that the early part of the
eighteenth century was the most cor.
rupt period in all English history
Strangely enough this was the same
period when more laws were place.
on the statute books than at any Other
equal time. But so barren of results
were these laws that the Society fol
the Promotion of Public Morals" (s
body of reformers whose method an(
motto was legislation) died off fol
lack of funds.
+. In its essence, legislation is onl!
destructive. It can never erect q con
structive program. But the destruc
tion of any system, involving legiti
mate factors of social service, is justi
fable only by the substitution O.
something better. This is what tn,
ordinary agitator fails to grasp.
Ito be continued)
F. J. MILNES, Pres,
National Indoor Game Assn,
Downers Grove, Ill