Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-11-07
THE DAY OF THE PEOPLE
kingly Autocrary Is Disappearing, but We
Must Beware of Every Other Kind
OF INrannN

!
the modern beginning Of the revolt of
the people against autocracy. But it was
the French Revolution that fired the
Imagination of the idealists Of the old
world. Ii was Of it that Wordsworth
wrote:
Bliss was Il then 10 be alive.
But to be young was very heaven.
The dream of youth is liberty, frater-
nifty and equality. This was The cry of
the revolutionists. The rule Of privilege
i'm France. the assertion by the few Of
their right t, control the many and TO
make them serve their whims, was de-
MED by the men who overthrew Louis
XVI. The right of every man to live his
own life. in his own way was asserted in
the midst of riot and bloodshed.
But this was only the beginning
There were popular revolts in other
European countries growing out Of the
increasing dissatisfaction OF the people
with the expressions of the privileged
classes. But they did not accomplish
great deal, for these countries were not
yet ready to govern themselves. They
had to be governed. This is not a state
ment Of political theory. but Of e his
torical fact. 1t is one of the truisms Of
history that every nation and every city
has the kind Of government for which it
is fitted and with which it is reasonably
contented. AS soon as the majority of
the people anywhere have intelligence
enough and political sense enough to
overthrow their oppressors those op.
pIessors are overthrown. So long as
they are content they submit to misrule.
This explains Russia. where for years
the revolutionary party consisted OF a
small handful Of intellectuals who in no
way represented the great mass of the
population loyal to the Great White Gar.
1t explains the conditions that have pre-
vailed in Germany and in Austria-Hun
gary for q century more or less.
But the passing years have broadened
the vision of the average man on the
continent. They have educated him.
They have fired him with the ambition
to be his own master and not the mere
vassal or serf of hereditary overload.
And now the seeds planted during the
French Revolution, more than Il hundred
years ago, are coming TO fruition.
These are great days to be alive, as
Wordsworth said of the days when the
French dethroned' their king. No more
momentous things have happened since
the beginning of time than those which
are in progress at the present time.
Autocracy has been destroyed in Russia,
and the people are learning in the hard
school of experience how to exercise their
new powers. They will blunder and
stumble many times, but in the end there
will grow up a great people inspired with
the living spirit of democracy. Autoc-
racy has seen its last days in Austria
Hungary, and the nations deprived of
their liberties there are taking posses
sion Of them in their own name and not
in the name of any king, prince or poten-
tate In the German empire the Emperor
is surrendering the powers which made
him an autocrat and is begging that he
be allowed to retain his titles and an
honorary position at the head Of the
nation. Whether this wish will be
granted or not is still to be determined
But the time when king can say, "The
State. it is l." or can speak without
blasphemy of "me and God" are ended
never to dawn again on this whirling
planet.
These are. indeed, great days in which
to be alive. The youth who will live to
see the outcome during the next fifty
years are to be envied. 1t will fall to
them in Europe and, to a lesser degree,
on this side of the ocean, to complete the
work that has been begun and to make
sure the foundations on which Govern
ments built on the peoples will are to
rest.
But political autocracy is not the only
form of misrule that is doomed. Along
with the revolt against czars and en-
perors there are heard the rumblings Of
revolt against industrial autocracy. The
tyranny Of the great employers of labor,
the desire of the capitalists to dominate
the world for their selfish interests, the
eagerness of labor leaders to set up a
privileged class within the industrial
world to which consumer and employer
| must pay tribute are all forces which
| threaten the future Of the social struc-
| ture. They must be resisted as firmly as
the awakened people of Europe have re-
sisted the autocracy Of their hereditary
rulers.
There is even threat of industrial
revolution, with seizure in other coun-
tries of the property of the Capitalist
Glass;" such as has occurred in Russia.
But this is threat to set up. the autoc-
racy of large social group for that of a
small family group, and must be resisted
as vigorously and as persistently. Even
though this industrial group should in
clude majority Of society, its tyranny is
none the less repugnant than the tyranny
of the minority. There is no justification
in law or in morals for tyranny of any