The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1918-12-28
Beware!


was our shield In war. to that OF
democratic decentralization in which
We have grown to believe. resides
our assurance q liberty in peace.
There are those who now come
forward to challenge our distrust OF
autocratic control in peaceable times.
They offer us a new theory Of demo
crazy, in accordance with which men
are to pass the machinery by which
they subsist out Of their own hands
as individuals, and thence into the
hands of centralized authority. Sew.
eral OF the rights of the individual
including that of possession, which
men won from the sovereign anoint-
ed OF ancient times free men are now
being asked to return to the sover-
leigh appointed OF modern times. Is
there then SO much difference be.
tween emperor and president. that
the one should be feared and the
other trusted? Both are men. vain
and ravenous for power, aud as such
are, alike, to be suspected and
watched. The more extensive pow
ers. the more reason for dread.
A strange excursion, indeed. has
democracy made II men. having
gained their liberties, every one at
the cost Of their blood. they now
supinely consent 70 surrender these
liberties into any mans hands, how
ever specious the plea upon which
their surrender bs sought. Are then
the days Of King John, at Runny-
msde, and the days Of Lsnine to
bound the gigantic experiment Of
the frseman's enjoyment Of his
rights?
Public ownership! The railways
and express companies. the teie-
graphs. telephones. cables and wire.
less. mines and oil wells. and water
powas. the basic industries. thence
to the common machinery Of life
Public ownership! In Russia, It OK
tends to wives-and children. wha,
let u ask. ID the great boon In ez.
change for which the hard won right
Of possession 10 TO be surrendered
for all time by the individuals Il
| It Z more precious right that comes tc
him In returnf A fresh hold upor
liberty! A new moral conquest
II ID none Of theaA: It 10 merely tn
fancied advantage Of being able 4
buy the goods and services he con
sumss at . lower price. He Il 4
sell. for cash. this right that COS
him his blood!
] say, "fancisd advantage" becaus
having exchanged for It part Of hi
economic freedom, he viii have loa
the one without gaining the othel
Because Of the very nature Of the la'
Of economies and Of human beha'
Tor when exhibited In sheltered sul
iroundings. he will inevitably pa
more under public ownership for II
goods and services he consumes. II
railways should already have taugl
him a. puch.
:. But the right OF possession 10 n
the only right that the individu
: loses when Ne yields to the sire
y OF socialism. He surrenders still q
4 other right: but what is Of vaster Il
n portance. he shakes the foundatio
= OF representative government VIII
- he consents to the erection OF I
a enormous bureaucracy which is pa
"a of the plan Of public OWNERSHIP
= when he countenances an organic
"a force entrenchsd In the seats Of g
"a erment. to whose interests It is
4. maintain in power the soverei
: head Of the reigning political hou
Could one conceive q more effectl
= means for perpetuating polite
IN power. than would soon become
bureaucracy sufficient in size to I
crate no more than those public vi