Omaha daily bee., 1918-09-09

to the situation, unless they awaken to the
task and demand high ideals and truly Amer
lean standards, there is no hope from state
Legislatures, from spineless congresses or
listening and trimming officials. The great
est benefactor in the country today is the
man or men who are seeking to arouse and
build up a deep seated love OF country, a
reverence for American institutions, and all
lin all a Nsound and wholesome, sane and
forward-looking public opinion
"There will be our public debt from $780,
loco, 0O0, 900 to $75,000,000000. How shall it
be paid? What system of taxation shall we
adopt? This will be one OF the most dis
turbng questions and far-reaching in its ct
| feet of any of the domestic questions grow
ing out OF the war An unjust and unwise
system of taxation is prolific source OF dis
content among all people. | cannot recall
revolution in 500 years which may not be
! traced to unjust and unwise method OF TAXA
ton. -,
Shall we have a labor program? Shall
we continue to rely on the old system OF
tooth and claw? Or shall we be able to re-
alze that democratic form Of government
must rest upon the principle that no man
I1iveth unto himself alone? There must be-,
it would seem, program based upon wider
and more humanitarian and more thor
oughly planned system of cooperation be-
tween labor and capital. In other words,
labor should have an interest in the business.
"The attitude of the citizen toward the
state will be greatly different after the war.
There is bound to be less individualism and
more collective cooperation. As the state or
the government absorbs this indivdualism
the conflict between those who have and those
who have not will become more intense for
the control of the state or the government.
"What shall be the relation of this repub-
lie to the European and Asiatic powers?
Can we and shall we preserve the precepts
and policies of Washington and still do our
full duty to the new world which will be in-
augurated with the close of the war? No
more serious problems could be presented.
"War is the deadly enemy of republics.
1t naturally calls for precedents, for the ex-
ercise of arbitrary powers which are at en-
nifty with democratic principles How far
can we eliminate the precedents OF war from
our system of government to the end that
this may remain government of the people,
by the people and for the people?
There is also the problem of how far we
are going in the destruction or elimination
of our state governments and in compound
ing our nation as whole. Shall we destroy
the federal principle-local government for
local affairs-and administer all government
from Washington? Another Is years NOV
ing in the same direction as we have in the
last rs years and the states would be but a
geographical expression. The government
would be republic in form, but bureau
cracy in fact 1t may be possible to devise
some SYSTEM of government more deadening
to individual initiative, more destructive to
human progress more burdensome to the
people than bureaucracy, but so far God,
in His infinite mercy, has not permitted it to
curse the human family. Up to date the
worst of all forms of government is bu-
reaucracy.
"The party which recdncies these prob
lens and composes these questions and pre-
serves through it all our great federal system
of representative government will render to
mankind service not even second to the
service which the fathers rendered when they
gave the first real republic that ever existed
IN the earth f"