The Detroit times., 1916-10-21
The Right TO Revolt
Is there to be a revolt?
BY DR.. FRANK CRANE
Copyright. 1915. by Frank Crono)

\ gentleman from Manhattan writes
me: 81 take exception TO your opinion
that men should refuse TO go TO war
Society is founded on obedience. obedi.
ence 10 the actual authority and not
visionary one. BY the grace of God one
man is chosen as authority over many
men. What constitutes the grace Of God
has been variously defined. but all def
nitionS resolve into The Law. And it
is obedience 10 law that keeps society
from chaos II is the law OF humanity
TO kill, whether as armies or as indi-
vidual eXecutioners.'
This is one side of the case, and there
is some truth in IT,
Without law men would undoubtedly
fall into unrcstrained violence. the strong
would pillage the weak, and there would
be no redress.
Without law there can be no liberty,
for law is necessary 20 maintain the
rights of the feeble, and TO curb the ex-
cesses Of powerful passions.
But there is another side to the cues
ton.
If without law there is no order, so
without revolt there is no progress.
Law is but human II is established
custom. And custom may be wrong. 1t q
can harden into injustice and oppression.
It is for this reason we have repre-
sentative governments and parliaments,
since in order to maintain order. and at
The same time prevent revolt, there must
bee a way to change laws when they be-
come inequitable.
There come times when the law re-
luires man TO do What his conscience
forbids
n that instance he must weigh the
matter carefully. He has two things to
.ousider-frst. his own rights and sec
md, the Importance Of maintaining or
der
If he thinks his own rights are not
too seriously uterfered with, he should
pocket his grievance and obey the law.
II he concludes that it is more neces-
sary TO himself to the welfare Of his fell
lows. and 20 his duty 20 God, 10 refuse
to submit to the law. he should revolt
Il is 20 be settled by his own judgment
and conscience Perhaps revolt may
mean his Imprisonment, or even death
Yet il is conceivable that under certain
circumstances he should even risk these
one can sometimes do more good by
his death than by his life
Jesus was executed, so was Socrates
and Savonaroa.
II was because ofthe Christian mar
tyr. cheerfuly went 90 death in the
arena Of wild beasts or at the stake that
they conquered AZ last and became "the
seed Of the Church.
cromwell was TcvOfUtIUU1St- and
Washington Few doubt that the South
American states are better of as repub-
lies than they would have been had they
not revolted against Spain.
Men now gladly give their lives for
their country because they feel the obi
cations Of patriotism
Not many men are willing 10 die rath-
or than engage in war. because the sem
timent Of Humanity is yet vague and
weak, and we do not realize how enor-
nous a crime against the race war is
Anarchy ceased when men learned to
sacrifice self and the family for the sake
Of the larger unit, the State.
And war, which is international anar-
lchy, will cease only when men have come
TO the conviction that the interests Of
Humanity are above those Of any one
nation, even their own.
We have not reached that point yet
We need a new crop Of martyrs TO shock
Us into a larger conscience which in turn
will produce new and better human re-
lations and laws.