The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-01-11

stopped, by the machinery which was
employed against 1T rev years
since. The existence of this disease,
both human and bovine, is a serious
menace to health and property, The
extent OF which it would not be
proper to enlarge upon here. l would
urge upon you that you be >Se!fsaly
generous in appropriating funds 10
garry on the work, OF eradication;
taking care, however, that no7 elao-
crate machinery, or new junction
aries, shall be created. and that no
color be given for petty expressions
or arbitrary action.
BY operation of law, you have be-
fore you proposed amendment TO
the constitution, prohibiting the
manufacture and sale OF intoxicating
liquors.
By token of the platforms Of the
political parties of the state, in one
Of which all of US have membership.
we are pledged to a submission OF
this amendm ent to a vote of the
people.
l recommend that you proceed at
once to take such steps as shall In
sure the submission Of this amend
ment to such a vote.
l urge upon you, in this conneG-
ton. the gravity of the matter, in
yolving, as it does, the fundamental
law of the commonwealth, and that
you surround the passage OF this
amendment through your body, and
it's submission to the people, with
every safeguard and precautlon
necessary to avoid any technical de
feet or irregularity, and to secure
free and fair expression OF the Will
Of the people.
Recent events have demonstrated
our total lack of preparedness to
withstand assault from without
Every male citizen, without reference
to his station in life, should be male
to understand that he has duty to
his country, and should be trained
to perform that duty We'll. The bur
den of defense should not rest
wholly on the shoulders of those who
shall volunteer, nor should we de-
pend upon that accident to secure
the training necessary to discharge
that burden efficiently. Might 1t not
be possible to make our present CON-
mon school system the agency by
which this may be accomplished, in
connection with the national guard,
which should be preserved?
fires Of Patriotism.
The fires of patriotism cannot be
lighted too early nor fed too fire.
uuently. Might not the public school
system adopt a course by which the
impulses, which make efficiency in
this respect glad duty, would be
inculcated in the breasts Of the
youth?
It has been seriously proposed by
some that the primary principle be
abandoned by this commonwealth,
and that election laws embodyins
that principle be repealed. The same
proposal has been made touching the
same principle as applied to the non.
partisan selection of the judiciary.
When the fathers drew the decla-
ration of independence and framed
the constitution, upon which our
liberties rest, they declared new
confidence in the individual, and in
the capacity of the average man to
have his share of power and respon-
sibility in framing the laws of his
government, and in choosing the men
who should administer them.
Since those great days in the his
tory of freedom, every piece of ma
chinery which has been designed to
enlarge that participation by the
people, has justified itself, by Inc
capacity which it has developed in
the people for it's employment to that
end, and the force of public opinion
is a vital one in just the degree that
such machinery has been developed
for its exertion.
The primary principle is funda
mental. BY it, the unit for the ,eX-
preston of public opinion has been
reduced from the mass meeting to
the individual, and no mans voice
need be drowned by the crowd. His
right to be heard, and to be counted,
has been transferred from the will
of the presiding officer to the quiet
protection of the ballot box, and this
right to be so heard in the prelinu-
nary selection accomplished by the
primary Is as sacred to the iEdi-
vidual, and as valuable to the CON-
monwealth, as the major rig IT OF
suffrage.
The arguments for repeal are fun
damental, and of great antiquity.
Their base is the distrust which the
Tory of all ages has felt of the popu-
lace That feeling has made war
upon every enlargement of the fran.
chise 1t is the essential belief of
those who hold that the people must
be trusted, that a confession that
they cannot be is confession thae
our form of government is doomed.
This does not assert that the people
make no mistakes, but that they
learn to use power rightly by being
given 1t to use.
The use of the primary will better
X. Even now, there speaks for it's
retention. one great fact which out
weighs all objections made-that it
is better for the state, that those who
administer it's affairs cannot know
with dangerous exactness where their
redeemer liveth-that he is best
guarded against giving what he has
in trust, to satisfy sense of obliga-
ton, who Is obliged to unknown
thousands.
II you feel, as / do, that the pre-
servation of this principle is vital, l
am. sure you will, no more than l.
hear with patience. pleas for saving
money by abolishfng the machinery
by which il is given play.