The Detroit times., 1916-04-26
WERE KING.
Nv Or. FRANK CRANE
Copyright. 1915. by Frank Crane)

If were king, absolute in power. able
to make and enforce such laws as please,
! would:
/. Make all persons over twenty equal
in every respect before the law. Women
should have precisely the same rights
and legal privileges as men, including
voting and holding office.
2. Have but one source of government
revenue. but one tax, that on land.
g. Base the money of the nation upon
land, and not upon gold or any other fluc-
tuating commodity.
a. Set time, say in thirty years from
now, at which there should be absolute
free trade, and gradually lower all tariffs
toward that time.
8. Recognize alcohol as a habit-form-
ing drug and regulate it under exactly
the same restrictions as the sale of opium
or heroin is now regulated, so that it
could be procured only by the prescrip-
ton of physician, who would be held
responsible for its use or abuse.
6. Require every child in the land to
attend the public school until of age,
at public expense, and prohibit the en-
ployment of children in any gainful occu-
patton. so that not one unframed and
unequipped boy or girl should enter citi-
zenship; and further ordain that the
school should teach each child some trade
or calling by which to earn living.
7. Organize an army in which every
boy and girl, from the age of nineteen
to the age of twenty zone inclusive, should
be employed in public service, such as
river and harbor improvements, desert
reclamation, road and bridge building, the
making and handling of machinery, and
the like, with the triple view Of train
ing them for individual efficiency. pre-
pairing a body of soldiery suitable for
public defense, and conserving and inn
proving the country's natural resources.
8. Provide absolute safety for bank
depositors by taxing all banks to make
good the failure Of any one of them.
There would then be no failures.
o. Propose to the other nations of the
world the formation Of one international
Court. to have at its disposal one Inter-
national Police force, allowing no nation
to have an armed force greater than is
necessary for police purposes within its
own borders: and / would set aside one
tenth of all government resources for the
furtherance of this propaganda.
10. Have all voting to be done by mail,
managed by the postoiiice, under due re-
strictions.
IL. Make ethical training mot reli-
gious) the first requirement in educa-
ton.
II. Abolish the Fahrenheit thermome-
ter, the present calendar Substituting
one of thirteen months), and all systems
of weights and measures and money ex-
cept those that are decimal.
10. Abolish all punishment and all
criminal courts, substituting commissions
of psychologists who should determine,
not what should be done to wrong
doer to satisfy public resentment, but
what should be done to cure him OF his
defect and to protect society from his
peculiar perversion.
ID. Confiscate by taxation all inheri-
lance in excess of 100000 using the
funds thus obtained for the public
schools. to give other children chance.
Is. And having done all these things
| I should skip out between two days and
take to the woods for fear of being ac-
cused, tried and beheaded as an anar-
chist. socialist, single-taxer, crank, IA
natic, traitor, AMI enemy of the people.