Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1919-02-10


the individual is to blame and only pays just penalty
when he suffers the consequences The government may
only rise to the standard of the average intelligence and
honesty of the average intelligence and honesty of all
the people who constitute the government We have al
ways thought that the remedy for bad laws and dishonest
and incompetent enforcement of the laws lies solely in
raising the standard of individual citizenship That
every voter realized his responsibility citizen and met
fairly and squarey many of the evils complained OF
would quickly disappear Careless voting for men and
measures and strict adherence to party allegiance
seeds which bring forth crops of bad legislation and
rpt official administration The people of the United
States may only prove that democratic rule is success
by making such government through the real
zaton of individual responsibility in the voting BOOTH
and by every act they may be called upon to perform in
connection with matters which the government
of which they are part.
Labor unionism should not be condemned because Of
the acts of the radical element within it, but labor union
ism should proceed to purge itself of these elements The
right of the great army of workers to organize for mutual
benefit and to advance and safeguard their interests
should be unquestioned Wage who well paid
and whose standard of living promotes education, intel
gence and comfort should be the nations greatest asset
That very condition will prevent the founding of a.per
manent working class in this country something that at
the present time we do not have. The Worklngmans
son of the past generation is the b gempoyer the pol
itica leader of today The young who worked for
wages few years ago paying wages to others today
This is the way it should always be in this country; it
should always be land of equal opportunity guaranteed
largely by free education which gives all young and
equal mental equipment Tor the vocation IN lie
they may wish to follow
Labor unonism is being tested in the present crisis
Some Of the men who seeking to lead it it's
berest opponents of few months ago. They are anar-
chists extreme socialists and boshevikS who would use
the workngman end to destroy organized gov
ernment and society They preach hatred of the employ
when the greatest interest of the should
be in getting into closer touch with his employer bring
ing him to that their interests are mutual and that
they do for him, and be better citizens, It the
standard of their living conditions is brought to the high
est possible point The walking delegate and the business
agent ofthe union ought to CO. His job depends STIR
ring up strife and he is always the job If strikes are
necessary and we admit they are at times to make some
grasping employer see the light public sentiment ought
be with the workers. and it will be if they ask for what
they are rightly entitled to full and equal citizens of
democracy But If labor unlonism lines up with the for
egn agitatos it will fall for matter what the ultimate
destiny of the republic may be- the time is far from dis
tant when any revolution tending toward anarchy and
destruction can succeed The tendency may be in that
direction but in young nation as yet sparsey populated
and possessed of vast undeveoped resources danger
overthrow of the government is far off.
What we must realize at this time as citizens is that
all organized government means to some extent the re-
striction Of personal liberty 1t means that burdens n
the form of taxes must be imposed and force employed a
times to make its DEGREES effective The duty of good
lies always in striving to make those restrlc
tons as few as possible and the burden of taxation equal
the government must carry
The wild dream of the anarchist who believes that
every individual should be left to govern himself would
destroy industrial organization and leave the race in
condition than the old nomadc tribes because from
the earliest times they maintained sort of tribal
government The beautiful socialist theory that all men
should agree to place themselves equality and live
in common with thought Of individual thrift ambition
or desirea social organization OF mutual
counter to human nature and if tried as an experiment
would drift into hopeless anarchy The very fact that hui
many possesses the animal instinct of self preservation
developed easily into sefshness and greed demands the
organization of government strong enough to restrain
those qualities and to protect the weak against encroach
mens of the strong An ideal government would be no
stronger than that the next door to anarchy it might be
expressed but history has proved almost conclusivey
that only strong central governments exist for any great
length of time as the life of nations is reckoned
The democracy of the United States is as yet an
perimentit is barely hundred and fifty years old
youngster among the nations of the world The sober