Omaha daily bee., 1915-05-17

Dear Barclay:
Evory individual voter feels that he
-ouid run the nation better than thoso
appointed TO do 30 by himself and thou.
sands of others lust Ike him Ono voter
would put the tariff higher than il ever
vas before. the ncvt would eboish IL
But. Whichever type ~ thinker gcts his
candidates into power. there ROMAN al
ways IN these United states millions OF
People who have To- be poor. dirty and
Disseminated.
from this even ehi1 would conrluda
either TINT vast majority OF pcople arc
doomed TO unhappine - by the God who
made them, or that vast majority Of
politicians are Incapable governors. AS
TO the first conclusion. VIC know nothing:
but as TO the second. we arc certain
beyond pcradventurc. with mighty few
exceptions. those whom We prt over 70
govern Us arc the most incompetent lot
81 legislators and administrators IN HIS
tory. For the most mart they are men
vaguely trained 20 the law. They talk
ecster and oftener on greater variety
OF topics than the average man who il
making or trying TO make an honest Nv
inE. They make Il their business 10 be
ccnspicuous. instead Of the opposite. ana
10 act themselves elected As n body OF
men they know practically nothing about
anything useful or important. and their
small minds are 80 tangled with the mt
tie law they know that they are unable
70 see through the tanglc into the hesrs
Of law. which IL justice. II lawyers could
could he counted on 10 do right the
pawnbroker down the street and the
shoemaker round the corner would not
have 10 be called away from affairs. Inn
portant TO them. to ait on juries ana do
justice.
But the thing goes deeper. What IN
each voters judgment IL the ono chief
thing that IL wrong with these United
states3 There would be almost IA many
answers as there are voters. I've asked
lots Of men. and no two agreed. but
liked one mans answer q lot Tie said:
The chief trouble with the country Is
that its citizens have 10 pay taxes when
they ought TO be receiving dividends
And this" he said. ''would be the case Il
from the start we had been governed by
our best minds. instead OF BY our worst;
n as a nation we had been run from
he beginning the way standard on. for
Instance. has been run as a trust"
am not standing up for the Eapacious-
mesa Of trusts. only for their efficiency.
As a nation we have been more rapacious
and dishonest than any trust that ever
lived. This being 40. and blot upon
Us that can never be wiped out a wrong
OF our own doing that can never be
righted. II Is 1000 pities that we haven't
been efficient. TOO.
How many billions OF dollars was this
country worth. as land. coal. oil. forest
gold. silver, iron. etc, etc1 Only astrono-
mers think In big enough figures to
answer that. Anyhow. as a nation we
grabbed. stole and cheated II all away
from the people who owned t. And
then we began TO play ducks and brakes
with II. II from the start our resources
could have been handled by a Roekefes
lcr newell he might be a thousand
times richer than nc Is, but we've
would none Of us 10 poor. And our
house would be clean and efficient from
garnet 70 cellar. and not Quilted and
creaky and full OF vern'in and half the
ceilings down.
Think OF whole country run "a a
trust with employment at more than
fair return for every abie-hodied man.
and fat dividends for everybody in good
years. In such a state by force Of pub
he opinion even Bryan might be made
useful. Even In Utopia there are offices
which have 20 be swept out.
n there Is salvation ahead OF US. In
stead Of ruin. something OF this sort win
have TO be worked out from what Is left
20 M OF our natural resources
Failing this those Of ne who are rich
enough and eontented enough as iRdi-
viduais viii be pulled down from our
high places and trampied BY an unreas-
oning mob until there Is no longer any
thing stable nor any one oontented The
air az thia great city which We breathe