The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-11-14
The Dangers of Pa.
ternalism in Gov
eminent.
CONTINUED from Page -

sober common sense OF tne american
people. believe that when they have
been placed in possession of adequate
information, when the pros and cons
of proposition have been fully dis
cussed before them and by them,
they can always be relied upon to
reach sound conclusions. The menace
which | see Is not in the deliberate
will of the people, but In the fact that
under the emotional stress of war, I'M
der the patriotic impulse Of the time,
under the actual or fancied necessity
of the war situation, tendencies are
tolerated and modes of thought and
action permitted to gain footing UNI
opposed, which are apt to create very
serious problems upon the return of
normal conditions.
In what | am going to say / wish
very distinctly and earnestly to dis
claim any intention of criticizing our
present government. 1t would be
so before this non partisan gathering
in which politics can have no place.
What ! mean to bring out Is not any
sins of omission or commission of the
able frailties and shortcomings which
are inherent In the very essence OF
all government and which emphasize
the need, particularly in democracy
nf mi inc ha hi n
government to activities which priv
ate enterprise can not undertake
equally as well as or better than the
state, or which, in the interest of the
maintenance of free institutions, priv
ate enterprise should not be permitted
to undertake.
Liberty necessarily limits govern
mental efficiency. That is part of the
price which we pay for freedom. We
do not begrudge the price, We are
prepared to pay any price for the
supreme blessing of being free men
IL necessary, even the price of our
very lives, as many of those did who
procured for us the great legacy OF
liberty. But why unnecessarily bid
up the price against ourselves by eX-
tending the scope of governmental ac-
tivites beyond the field which natur
ally belongs to them?
Government the Negaton of Compe-
titjon.
Government, in its very essence, is
the negation of competition, 1t is, by
the very fact of its being, whatever its
name or kind, the monopoly of monop-
olies 1t can not but be affected with
those shortcomings which spring from
the absence of competition and the
exercise of monopoly, Why. then
should people which rightly dis
countenances monopoly and rightly
believes in the principles of competi-
ton, enlarge the operations of gov
ernmental agencies further than is re-
quired for the recognized purposes
which free government is meant to
serve?
do not fail to recognize that, GER
tainly during the period OF recon-
struction, and probably more or less
permanently, both here and in Europe,
the scope of state activities Is bound
to Increase and must concern itself
with and intercede in matters which
heretofore were left entirely to priv
ate enterprise. But this concern and
intercession should be such as not to
eliminate or lame private enterprise,
but to make it more effective, Nor do
fail to recognize. but, on the con-
trary, l welcome unreservedly--as |
am sure we all do--the prospect that
in the times which will follow the pro-
found upheaval of the war; the stan
dard by which men will be judged
and rewarded will be, more strictly,
exactingly and far -reachingly than
heretofore, that of work done, duty
performed, services rendered The
world win have no place for idlers and
social slackers. Rank will reside not
in birth or welath-nether trust,
will ii reside in an office holding caste
but in useful achievement.
ihoi' petlSi u
socialism is not very long step. The
menace, however, of hureaucratism
and socialistic paternalism, with their
insidious effect upon the very fibre
and marrow of the race, eonfronts us
now. While bureaucracy and eff
cheney can go together under an au-
tocratic regime it is impossible in the
very nature of things for bureaucracy
to go together with efficiency in de-
mocracy. Nor, indeed, can paternal-
ism and liberty exist side by side. Blu
reaucracy is either wasteful, stagnant
and inefficient, or 1t is, as in Germany.
ruthless in its methods, oppressive in
its spirit and poisonous in its effect
1t resents progress, vision and inno-
walton because these are disturbing
and antagonistic to the very essence
of its being-routine.
In our own case the soil for the
growth of the noXious weeds which
spring from the seed of bureaucracy
Is particularly fertile. for variety OF
reasons. Washington is heavy with
the atmosphere of politics, and is per-
vaded, as no other capital know |
with the spirit and the very flavor Of
things governmental. Fatal to the at