Osage County Volksblatt. (Westphalia, Mo.) 1896-1917, 1916-07-13
the PUBLIC SHOULD DO
THEIR OWN THINKING.


of our average American citizen allow
themselves 10 be led By the nose, fol-
lowing leHier or leaders like q fock
sf sAseps To our mind It has Away.
seemed : sry foolish or senseless act.
That nm Intelligent class OF people as
those OF our present commonwealth
seem to be, should ever allow themsel-
yes to be swayed by any false impress
sion Of some one else. The agitators
always go to the one or the other ex-
treme In most things, and to follow them
blindly Is nnwise. For instance in po-
litics. the pendulum i. swaying con-
stantly to and FRO iron one extreme to
the other. This, however, should not
be the case Nsith our public mind. a.
nowadays there is too much intelligence.
Our Americah people Of the more hum
BILE type srs lsst a> capable to involve
good thought as any agitator or dicta-
tor In the land, and probably more 50.
asyour practical experience during every
day life has seen the gooj teacher and
thereby have learned the lesson. ThL.
Is AN age which concerns ,Is all. and II
Is not always the illhu.ier OF men that
counts, but 'qualily", such as our pre-.
sent type Of suten, Democracy, repre-
sented by the state, insists that there
should he no privileged class, that ey-
cry person has right to think, Judge
and reason n, he drnnls it suitable for
himself. We are not all constituted u.
like, and 10 avoid waste Of energy, b,
some few men, Ii is we'll We should
know the Square pegs, insists, and
SO on. The great handicap In the pune
tnred career Of msn, both in the field OF
science, ply losophy and politics, lice in
his difficulty OF keeping in the middle
Of the road. The movement Of the men
tai world follows the same principles u.
! the movement Of the molecular: rhyth-
mic, pendular oscilations-and it is on
ly after having reached certain poini
of moral development: that the Ego car
assert its own .self-conscious indepen-
dence, and in matter Of judgment pro-
, coed on u platform of intellectual inde-
pendeuce, rather than tn yield to tht
strain of general opinions and fne-spur
theories, gauged solely dy the unsteady
and unreliable light Of surface appear
ance fabricated by a selfish few. W,
on,e more desire to rsiterute our Oft
repeated plea to the voter that he cult
vaie, more and more the larger an,
loftier faculties uf hls mind ana heart;
that he enlarge the horizon Of his inter.
e>t> and sympatlir, beyond the narrow
borierline Of his career. aud ally him
self in thought and deed with all thos'
| influences, past and present, whicl
make for better understanding, Ii L.
useless 10 expect 10 enlist the publ,
press, 10 amy effective extent. in an!
such plan Of education, /, Is neither
the function nor the habit Of the lay
press to carry out educational propa-
ganda Of this kind, nor can any rea
enlightenment. in politics or in any
other subject. be- brought about by :
DELIBERATE attempt to 'educateh TIN
the public in this line, unless all hay,
uniform system, Public education
does not come about hy this sort o
! forced campaign, bat hy natural, un-
couciou> process Of selection of fact;
and the people are Themselves their owl
bcS; aSsoriers and Interpreters of th'
facts. However With all its faults th'
lay press II conducted ON an homes