The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1919-07-09
A JUST GOVERNMENT
by DR.. Lyman Abbott)

~ ONSENT of the governed does not make
the government just.
The Negroes in the United States con-
sented to slavery; at least they acquiesced in it.
They did not revolt When the Civil War gave
them opportunity to away, comparatively
few took advantage of the opportunity. Most of
them remained working in the fields and in the
homes for the masters who were fighting to
prevent their emancipation. But their consent
did not make slavery just.
The German people consented to the German
Government. When their Government entered
upon war to win world domination, they did
not protest but through their chosen representa-
tives voted the money for the campaign When
Belgium was overrun, when some OF its citizens
were deported and others murdered in cold blood,
when it's banks were robbed and its women were
raped, the German people consented to the rob
berry, the murder, the raping. When the Lusl-
tania was practically sunk, they not only consent
ed. they publicly celebrated that achievement
by possessions and medals. But their consent
did not make those crimes the acts of just gov
eminent.
The want of consent by the governed does not
make the government unjust.
The government of prison is not unjust when
ever the prisoners object to the rules OF the
warden The government of a school is not I'M
just whenever the pupils object to the rules OF
the principal The government OF family IS
not unjust whenever the children object to the
parents.
The consent of the governed may make the
community contented. 1t may give the communl-
ty peace It may give the community a certain
degree of prosperity But it does not make the
government just. Government is just only when
%bo IF thp
world 1t is just in the intent of the lawmakers
only when their purpose is to apply to the con-
ditions of their age and country those eternal
laws.
The biographer of Tolstoy tells US that in his
boyhood he had the idea that by STOPPING down
and clasping his hands underneath his knees if he
jumped off porch he would soar He tried the
experiment-and did not soart Flying was
achieved by different method. Inventors stu
died the BIRDS discovered the secret of their
flight-powerful muscles hollow bones, strength
mated to lightness-and by conforming their
schemes to the laws discovered by them in ma
ture conquered the air.
There are laws of health. They not imposed
upon the body; they are written in the constltu-
ton of the body. A certain modern school of
philosophy assumes that pain is evil but God IS
good, and therefore pain exists only in the evil
thoughts, and it attempts to cure pain by chang.
ing the thoughts The scientist studies the hu-
man body, learns by his study the laws of health
and the causes of disease and with much painstak-
ing and many temporary error builds up a
system of healing based on law
There are laws of the social order. The COM
munity which obeys them is prosperous. The
community which disregards them suffers. An
admirable summary of these laws of the social
order is furnished by the Ten Commandments
which may be epitomized:
Reverence God, not the mere symbols and images
which men make of God. Respect your ancestors.
Keep a little time free from drudgery for minis
try to the higher life. Regard the four funda-
mental rights of your fellow-men-the rights Of
person. of property, of the family, and of reputa
tion. And do this heartily, because you desire
their protection as well as your own.
Whenever these laws are set aside tragedy is
the result.
The German nation discarded them. 1t did not
reverence God With colossal seh-conceit it sum
moned God to be its ally in war of conquest. 1t
disavowed all laws, human and divine. 1t declar-
ed that necessity knows law 1t substituted
self-will for the will of the Eternal-with tragl-
cal results to itself and to the world.
The Bolsheviki have discarded all laws but those
of their own creation. They ignore God. They
treat all that past ages have wrought as colos-
sal blunder They 1aze to the ground the edlflce
which past generations have reared and propose
to build new edifl,e or a new founcatlon Ihey