Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1917-07-06
m PROGRESS SEEMS SLOW
TRY LOOKING RACKwARl

II sometimes seems 90 II progress
Il horrible slow.
Seventeen hundred and seventy.
SIX years of tire Christian era had
20 pass BY before any group Of men
were wise enough and strong
enough TO announce 70 the world
that governments derive their lust
powers from the consent OF the gov
erned,"
And even they had to travel threc
thousand miles and settle In . Wild
erneSs before they dared TO do Il.
Once the idea had permeatea the
consciousness OF che world. one
would have supposed that thrones
everywhere would tumble down be-
fore IL; that every nation would az
once have recognized the Ahaurdity
% calling q man King" because he
happened TO be born In house with
an iron fence around Il. and giving
him power over the lives aud TOR.
tunes Of the other men and women
who happened 90 be born IN ether
houses without iron fences.
Yet one hundred and torty-one
years have elapsed. And atm the
race Is engaged in It's oid-time bust
ness of trying to set rid OF It's
kings engaged this time with
fury that threatens almost TO wreck
civilization itself,
Progress Is horribly slow, but none
the less the world docs progress.
have been reading recently about
the conditions that obtained in the
half century Just before the Deelar-
alton Of Independence was signed
Arthur Young. who travelled thru
France at about that time, found for
~ million acres Of French soil Who'll
~ waste--glyen over 60 the sport Of
tho rich. In the year i7a9-t9 more
Frenchmen died from famine than
had been killed In all the waFa Of
Louis XIV.
More than half of France was cul
livated by peasants who we're abao.
lutte paupera. their little crops tram
pied by the hunts OF the rich, or
taxed 20 death.
How farea your flock" asked the
king OF the Blshop OF Chartres.
| And the bishop answered: Sire,
they eat grass like sheep and starve
like FLEA"
Thla was the normal condition OF
tho common people Of France and
most other countries only two hun
dred years ago.
In 1857 tho Archbishop EleotoT
OF Cologne issued torture chart,
showing the various kinds 81 tor.
ture which the executioner must In
fllct ON a victim. In the name Of 70.
nglon. and tho amount Of legal pay
ment for each
ThAloFI
For tearing asunder with four
huFaeb stst#stsstz*sttsf
For burning alive .t..s.ss. 4
For breaking a man on q wheel 4
For burning with . hot Iron
For mailing \ tongue or hand
10 tho gailows. .ets..,....
Fifty different paragraphs. al
neatly printed and distributed Thu
was the state OF justice and Of 70
ilgion IN much OF the world only ON
hundred aud sixty years ago.
In 1884 the Austrian government
sent out from Milan eatechiam cn
titled Duties OF Subjects Towar'
Their Sovereign" Here ara twl
typical paragraphs.
q. How should subjects behav
toward their sovereign A. Sub
iects should behave like faithful
slaves toward their sovereign.
q. why should subjects behRv
like siavesY A. Because their SOW
orelgn Ia their master and has pow
~ both over their possessions an
their lives.
This was the ideal Of politics
freedom throughout n large part q
the world only q hundred years ags
We find that ideal still aurvivin
in words like these. uttered b. WI
liam Of Germany shortly before N
war:
1t isa tradition OF our House tbs
we. the HohonEolierns. regard Cul
selves az appointed ny God to go'
ern and lead the people whom Il
given ns 20 rule.
The people whom Il i given as
ruIe-that the ideal behind thot
words should have lasted 10 LONG a
ter the first blow dealt Il BY orr Al
cestors one hundred and fogty-oF
years ago II amazing. and In : SEM
diseoaTaging.
But that II can Outiass this vi
IL impossible. The world does ~
gFesa. we are about TO finish for q