American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1917-06-29

Liberty Wa Scarcely Known Inti
United States Set Up New Standard
for the World.

IEH 'Mh'fH nAlAAAA VI NAA 'NNAAAI pa
years OF the Christian era had 10 pass
by before any group Of men were wise
enough and strong enough 10 an
nOunce 20 the world that govern
ments derive their just powers from
the consent OF the governed"
And even they had TO travel three
thousand miles and settle In q wilder
ness before they dared 10 do it.
Once the idea had permeated the
cOu%sciousness OF the world. one would
have supposed that thrones every
where would tumble down before H..
that every nation would al once have
recognized the absurdity Of calling a
man king" because he happened 20
be- born in a house with an iron fence
around II. and giving him power over
the lives and fortunes of the other
men and women who happened 10 be
born in other houses without iron
fences.
Yet one hundred and forty-one years
have elapsed And still the race Is en-
gagged Ia rs Old-time business OF try
Ing 10 get rid Of us kings-engaged
this time with a fury that threatens
almost 70 wreck civilization Itself.
Progress is horribly SLOW. but none
the less the world does progress.
! have been reading recently about
the conditions that obtained ia the
hair century just before the Declara-
ton OF Independence vas signed
Arthur Young. who travelled through
France at about that time, found for
IS million acres of French soil wholly
waste given over 10 The sport of the
rich In the year 1890 more
frenohmen died from famine han had
been killed In all the wars of Louis
xiv.
More than half Of France vas Gull
tiyated Dry peasants who We're absolute
pauper- their little crops tramplod
by the hunts of the rich, or taxed 10
death.
"HoN fares your aock?" asked the
king OF the Bishop of Charities.
And the bishop answered Sire,
they eau grass like sheep and starye
like files
This was the normal condition of the
common people of France and most
other countries only two hundred
years ago.
la 1851 the Archbishop Elector Of
Cologne issued a torture chart. show
ing the various kinds OF torture which
an executioner might infllct on "A vic
tim. In the name OF religion. and the
amount OF legal payment for each.
Thalers
For tearing asunder with -four
horses 5
For burning alive 4
For breaking a man on a wheel 4
For burning with a hot iron. I
For mailing a tongue or hand
TO the gallows /
FIFTY different paragraphs. all neat
IS printed and distributed This was
the state OF justice and OF religion Ia
much of the world only one hundred
and sixty years ago
In 1884 the Austrian government
sent out from Milan a catechism en-
titled Duties OF Subjects Toward
Their Sovereign" Here are two typi-
cal paragraphs
q How should subjects behave to-
ward their sovereign A. Subjects
should behave like faithful slaves to
ward their sovereign.
q Why should subjects behave
like slaves A because their SOW
ereign is their master and has power
both over their possessions and their
lives.
This was the ideal of political free
dom throughout a large part of the
world only a hundred years ago.
We md that ideal still surviving in
words like these. uttered by William
OF Germany shortly before the war:
II Is a tradition OF our House that
We. the Hohenzollerns. regard our
selves as appointed by God to govern
and lead the people whom IL Is given
us 10 rule.
The people whom a. ia given MS 20
rule-that the ideal behind those words
should have lasted 80 long after the
hrst biow dealt IL by "a ancestors
one hundred and torty-oue years ago
IS amazing, and Ia a sense discourag-
Mig
But thar il can outlast this war is
impossible The world does progress.
Ne are about 10 finish for a. time the
work which one hundred and forty
one years ago on july Fourth our
foreflthers So Well began Bruce Bar
TON ia Every Week.