Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1918-07-19
FUTURE OF PROGRESSIVE DE.
MOCRACY.

ana READS OF the struggles or the
people of all ages to throw off the
shackles that bound them to heart
less masters it is. indeed, pleasant to
note the success that is browning the
efforts of the people today to rid
themselves of government by others
and to establish their right to steer
their own course and shape their own
ends.
Throughout the entire world the
men and women of common clay are
asserting themselves in a manner that
is sending the chill of fear through
the frames of those who have held
high station and cruelty ridden upon
the backs of their humble brothers.
There is not a corner of the world
which has not been stirred to some
extent by the leaven of democracy
during the past trying year. Europe,
Asia and Africa are full of open ad-
vocates of the rights of humanity who
have but little fear of the powerful
autocrats who formerly compelled
submission to their wills, while the
western hemisphere, always strongly
democratic, is adopting measures cal
culated to strengthen the grip of the
people upon governmental institu-
lions in order that they may more
readily be made to serve the purpose
for which they were instituted-that
of meeting the needs of civilized
humankind, rather than that of max
ing life more luxurious and easy for
the favored few.
Truly the trend of the times, the
world over, presages the end of auto
cratic rule over the lives of men. And
in this powerful and successful effort
at democratizing the world the great
uncounted millions of those who earn
their bread in the sweat of their
brows. and who have had the intelli-
gence and foresight to weld them
selves together in the modern labor
movement, have played no inconspic-
uOus part. Their efforts have been
fruitful in the past, and every indica-
ton is that the immediate future will
find their struggles of even greater
worth in the battle of man against
master, and that the next few years
will mark an epoch in the worlds
history, recording a progress for hui
mainly unequaled in all the annals of
time. Crowned heads are falling into
the basket of democracy at a rapid
rate and the momentum gained bids
fair to carry the work forward until
arrogant autOcracy has been thor
oughly humbled and made to do it's
share of the worlds necessary labor
Taking into account the frailties.
limitations and imperfections of hui
mainly he would, indeed, be an OPP
timist who entertained the hope that
equal and exact justice would be the
early end Of such struggle. In spite
of the pitfalls and dangers that lie in
the path of progress, these are never
theless, glorious days for the lovers of
justice, because they do hold out the
hope that when the slaughter that is
now spreading anguish and sorrow
throughout the world shall have been
brought to an end, the great masses
of oppressed people who now have
little or no control over their manner
of life will find themselves in a posi-
ton where they can, in large meas
ure, exercise influence over the condi-
lions which shape their mode of liv-
ing. And this, while not all that
properly could be asked for. is, in
deed, progress that may we'll fill the
world with gladness over such pros
pect.
''The things in this world worth
having are hard to get. If, then,
we are called upon to make sacrifices
in order to gain liberty, we should do
so without unusual complaint. and
every man should be willing to do his
part toward ushering into the world
the right of all to an equal voice in
governmental affairs. The laggard
and the coward, the lazy and the sell
fish, the helpless and the hopeless we
have always had with us. but in spite
of their presence the red-blooded men
of the world have gone on from one
triumph to another in the interest of
humanity. Every age and every
cline has contributed its quota of I'M
selfish souls willing to make the final
sacrifice that the world might be
made a better place in which to live.
The greatest struggle the world has
ever known is now going on in Eu-
rope, and the issue between the con-
tending factions is mainly the SUI
premacy of autocracy or democracy.
whether the few shall rule the many
or the many rule themselves, and
men of the modern world are making
sacrifices greater than any ever made
by the ancients for the same cause,
though their prospects of success are
also much greater.
When little more than three years