The Alaska citizen., 1915-11-22
Maiorities Do Not Always
 Establish Wise PrecideH1ts
By George w. Pennington

states, "uO tnltlIdul d Just anu generous regard for the rights Of others. who love liberty and look forward with hope to that day Of intellectual progress when they shall have voice in framing the legal statutes of their country, to reflect that all history reveals to us the strange paradox that. while it is one of the vital principles of free government that majority shalt lIle yet in nearly every great crisis in the destiny of nations, of which We have a clear record, majorities Lave been in the wrong. and in a great number of cases it has re Quired only d decade or two to re verse some farreaching decision they have made and render theIr former stand or conclusion absolute g uutenable. The reason for this perplexing anomaly lies in the fact that majorities are in most instances swayed by four glaring defects in human character, viz, venal amhi tions accompanied by love o' power; avarice, crass ignorance. and moral cowardice. It would seem that majorities have never learned to either think or say: Put yourself in his place."
 It was a majority vote of 2Sl to 20 in the Athenian Senate twenty four hundred years ago that de- priyed Athens of her greatest citi- zen, that condemned Socrates. and gave him his quietus through the medium of 6 cup of hemlock; and then that same majority wept in shame of their colossal blunder when the old fellow showed them with what courage stately mind could meet death.
 It was majority that flung the Man of Nazareth to His back, nailed His gentle hands to a wooden cross tree and derisiyely mocked Him in His hour of dissolution. It has been the work of stupid majority for one hundred forty years to tra- duce the character of so great a p7Ueo a ol seAIesep Apq5!I oqM us,u e-5uEed sguUqL sB lo!Ilgu the Father of his Country and one who is worthy indeed to dis pute first place with Socrates in moral courage, in fortitude and ad herence to the principles of truth in most threatening conditions, and also in love and reverence for the Deity. It was a needless majority driven onward by prejudice and hatred that brutally dragged Wm Lloyd Garrison through the streets of Boston only few years ago because he dared to advocate the abolition of slavery. His fine mind could not bear to contemplate that eper spot upon the fair fame of our nation. and with the resolve that his life should be devoted to it's eradication, he stated in 1881 that brave paper, the Liberator, whose
 
 From the first issue of his paper the enemies of progressive govern ment turned loose upon Garrison all the venom that barbarous and depraved minds could conceive of The State of Georgia, that looms so large upon the horizon as an advocate of brute crime in our day, offered five thousand dollars to any one who would bring to the bar of justice and convict this young champion of liberty. He won his fight, however, even though threat ened with assassination, and 32 years later Clan. l, 1S63) when our beloved Lincoln sent forth the proc lamation of freedom as a military measure, the contentious of the abo litionists were sustained for all time. In 1867 Garrison's friends presented him with the sum of s30,00O as a memorial of his ser vices, and then a minority, in lov- ing admiration, erected a statue of bronze in his honor in one of the public parks of Boston And what had become of that mistaken ma iority at this time? It is difficult to tell, but one thing We do know, they had vanished in confusion and shame, perhaps into that abyss of oblivion where all crass majorities belong
 The good women of New York Pennsylvania and New Jersey need not feel discouraged because in the recent elections the constituent cies of those three states denied them a plain, God-giyen right. That result was merely the brief triumph of blundering majority, and while it is true that hope, deferred, mak- eth the heart sick" nevertheless truth and right are sure to prevail in the end. We have somewhere read that every consolation to be found in human philosophy may b. summed up in three words, "wait, hope, york;" and such work as the noble women of our country are engaged in at the present time can not fail to transmute defeat into