The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-12-08
LETTERS TO EDITOR
Triumphant Democracy

To the Editor of the Age Herald:
 Now that democracy is triumphant and autocracy has been overthrown, the sug- gestion has been made in the Age Herald that we emphasize the victory by drop plng all imperialist and royalist nomen- clature The suggestion savers of sanity. II Will, perhaps, be more difficult in the south than in the north, for the south has heretofore been partial to mon- archiai sentiments. While this is true, the south has been individualistic and an advocate of personal rights. The south has the royalist sentiment in about the degree of the English-a secret lik- Ing for the pomp and circumstance of a king as the personification of the power Of the state, but a hatred to the death of autocratic poWer
 The southerners are descended from the cavaliers, who were royalists, while the northerners are descended from the puritans, who fled to the wilds of Amer ica to escape what they deemed royal interference with their liberties. The plantation system before the war encour- aged this feeling of imperialism. It was a near approach to the feudal system. inc owner of the plantation was ruler of all within his sphere of influence and vas judge, jury and executioner in one It is related of young DeYampert, son of wealthy planter in south Alabama that while in London he learned that only the royal family were allowed to drive six white horses teF their carriage-he at once engaged six white horses and drove through the streets-his idea was to show that he was the equal of royalty
 Mark Twain said that the southern peo- pie imbibed their chivalric and monarch ial ideas from the novels of Walter Scott And here was the basis of southern chivalry toward the ladies' The senti-s ment expressed by the proud earl My castles are my Kings alone but the hand of Douglas is his own,' struck responsive chord in the southern heart it was an expression of loyalty to the King as the head of the state yet an as- sertion of personal freedom that yields to no earthly power. Many of the pub lie buildings in the south are modelled after castles.
 The word imperial in it's broadest sense, means supreme and does not nec- essarily imply kingly power. The phrase Imperial British Empire is used to distinguish the imperial government from the colonial governments. The Imperial County of Jefferson means that Jefferson is supreme over the other counties of the state, which cannot be denied The spirit of democracy does not quarrel with form of government as exemplified in the British govern nent for the British King reigns but does not rule--the people rule. Were the British Parliament to demand that the King sign his death warrant he would be compelled to do so. Democ- racy is opposed to autocracy as was dis played in the German empire, where the ruler and a handful of military leaders declared war without consulting the peo- pe. and started a world -conflagration. A well known historian refers to "the imperial democracy of Athens"
 In religious literature it would be diff cult to eliminate royalst terms. The song Bring Forth the Royal Diadem and Crown Him Lord of AL" will be sung by future generations in spite of democratic sentiments
 Several of the fraternal orders also use royalst phraseology.
 s-D. B. GRACE. Ala, December 5.