Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1915-01-13
CHAPTER XIV.
IAN Extravagant lllegality.n

~ more than club, club of about
hundred persons. At the outset there
were ninety-three. and these We're in
creased afterward. by the issue Of in
V1tations which more than balanced it's
0eatnS. to as many at one time as 119.
Always its constitution has been mis-
celaneous. At no time were these in
vitatiOns issued with an admission that
they recognized Il right. The old insti-
tuition of monarchy had come out un-
expectedly we'll in the light Of the new
regime. Nine Of the original members
of the first government were crowned
heads who had resigned their separate
sovereignty. and at no time afterward
did the number Of its royal members
sink below six. In their case there
was perhaps kind of attenuated claim
to rule. but except for them and the
still more infinitesimal pretensions of
one or two ex-presidents Of republics,
no member of the council had even the
shade of a right to his participation in
Its power. 1t was natural, therefore,
that its opponents should find CON-
tive government and build high hopes
upon return to parliamentary institu-
tons.
The council decided to give them ev-
erything they wanted, but in form
that suited Ill with their aspirations.
1t became at one stroke representa-
tive body. 1t became, indeed, magnif1.
Gently representative. 1t became so
representative that the politicians we're
drowned in deluge Of votes. Every
adult OF either sex from pole to pole
was given a vote, and the world was
divided into ten constituencies, which
voted on the same day by means of
simple modification Of the world post
Membership of the government, it was
decided. must be for life. save in the
exceptional case of a recall, but the
elections, which were held quinquen-
nially, were arranged to add fifty men,
bers on each occasion. The method of
proportional representation with one
transferable vote was adopted. and the
voter might also write upon his voting
paper In specially marked space the
name of any of his representatives that
he wished to recall. A ruler was re-
callable by as many votes as the quota
by which be had been elected and the
original members by as many votes in
any constituency as the returning quo
tas in the first election.
Upon these conditions the council
submitted itself very cheerfully to the
suffrages Of the world None of its
members was recalled. and its fifty
new associates. which included TWEEN
ty-seven which it had seen fit to rec
ommend. were of an altogether too
miscellaneous quality to disturb the
broad trend Of its policy. Its freedom
from rules or formalities prevented any
obstructive proceedings. and when one
OF the two newly arrived home rule
members for India sought for informa.
ton how to bring in a bill they learned
simply that bills were not brought in.
They asked for the speaker and were
privileged to hear much ripe wisdom
from the ex-king Egbert. who was now
consciously among the seniors of the
gathering. Thereafter they were BAT
fed men.
But already by that time the work
of the council was dra wing to an end
1t was CONGO fned not so much for the
continuation of its constructions as for
the preservation Of it's accomplished
work from the dramatic instincts of the
politician.
The life of the race becomes indeed
more and more independent Of the for
NAL government The council in its
opening phase was heroic in spirit A
dragon Staying body, it slashed out OF
existence vast knotted tangle oil
obsolete ideas and clumsy and Jealous
propr1etorships. 1t secured by a noble
system Of institutional precautions
freedom Of inquiry, freedom of crit
cism, free communications, common
basis Of education and understanding
and freedom from economic oppres
sion. With that it's creative task wa:
accomplished. 1t became more ant
more an established security and les!
and less all active intervention. Their,
is nothing in our time to correspond
with the continual petty making ant
entangling Of laws in an atmosphere O.
contention that is perhaps the mos
perplexing aspect Of constitutional his
tory In the nineteenth century. In thai
age they seem to have been perpetu
ally making laws when we should
alter regulations. The work Of chang,
~ To
committees Of specific general direc
ton which have the special knowledg,
needed, and which are themselve
dominated by the broad intellectual
process of the community. was in thos,
days 1nextricably mixed up with Iegis
lation. They fought over the details
We should as soon think of fghtin,
over the arrangement of the parts of
machine. We know nowadays tina
such things 60 on best within laws, a
life goes ON between earth and sky
And so it is that government gather
now for day or so in each year IN
der the sunshine Of Brissago when 81
Bruno's lilies are in flower and doe
little more than bless the work Of 1t
committees. And even these commit
tees are less originative and more Ell
pressive Of the general thought tha
they were at first. 1t becomes Difficult
to mark out the particular directly
personalities Of the world. Continual
we are less personal. Every goo
thought contributes now, and ever
able brain falls within that informa