Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-10-10
MY BROTHERS KEEPER
Vice President Discusses Mans Re-
spOnslbIllty To Man.
SOME CAUSE OF GENERAL UNREST
Throughout the Ages the Social Order
Has Been Agitated Over the Cues.
ton Of the Duty Of the Strong to

/
ton Of the Duty Of the Strong =
Those Who are Weak.
Vice President Marshall in New Yorl
Times.
The ancient battlo cry Of Tcmplar'
was God and my right" II thi'
could lave come down through thu
ages cs the battle cry of mankint
many evils might have been prevent
ed for he who contemplates God witt
His compromises and concessions be-
tween contcnding forces in mature
would have been inevitably impressed
with tho great truth that my right" !:
not a fixed, definite and unbendinl
privilege to be. to think and to Dc
what / please. my right" is rather
my duty to so adjust my aims and m,
efforts as to produce harmony in civil
society.
Humanity, striving fer higher and
better things, particularly az excmpli.
fed ar,ong English speaking peoples
soon clipped the Tcmplars' motto into
Just my right" The king who
foolishly thought he ruled by right
divine and that he could do no wrong
Interpreted my. right" to mean "my
will" and regarded all other forces Of
life and society as subservient thereto
Such a definition of my right In
evitably produced friction, such fric-
tion that at Runnymcde the barons
wrested the great charter Of Enslisl,
liberty from their overlord. Ahi yet
they learned but little. The battle cry
was still my right" and they as
sumed that all the other wishes Of
mankind were held in bondage to their
own; and thus the laws were largely
made for themselves, incidentally for
others -.
With the printing press, knowledge
came, and the so-called great middle
class of the world, moro especially the
business man, took charge Of the con-
duct of human affairs through legis-
lative bodies. And still wisdom lingcr-
ed and still tho cry was my right"
Another and the greatest Of evils in
all the history Of humankind, has taxi
en- place; tho man who thinks he works
exclusively with his hands, but who,
II he stopped to consider would realize
that his hands are only doing what
his brain lays out for him to do. has
marched upon the scene of govern
ment.
Does wisdom stin Iinger and is the
old cry Of my right" again to be.ex-
emplified or attempted to be exempli-
fed by these men taking into their
hands the machinery Of government
and fixing by man-made laws the
political. social and economic condi-
tions of the world? Is it to be a re-
petition of the old experience OF
humankind,-"my right" regardless OF
the other fellow?
Here and there In the long process
OF the ages there has been sleam of
light from individuals and from groups
Of men, and in 1776 theoretical sun
arose, called the Declaration of lnde-
pendence, to shed its light upon the
void. Is it to prove to be a pale,
anaemic sun, or Is 1t to be a glowing,
rcfulgent, warming and earth-revivify-
ing source of light and heat and
power?
The long, long fight from John at
Runnymede to Haig and Pershing in
Flanders and in France seems to have
been fought under the battle cry my
right" and my right" seems always
to have. been to seize the instruments
of power and to WELD them regardless
of my duty and regardless of the
rights Of others.
If in my own little political or So
cial life had ever sought or defended
legislative enactment for myself or for
any particular group of my fellow
countryrnen, then ought to be es-
topped from making this inquiry. Has
not the hour struck upon the dial OF
time when the great mission Of Eng
disappearing peoples and, more parti-
cularly, the great mission OF the
American, is to teach and to live upon
the principle of the mutual duties OF
men toward each other and of organ
lied society toward all its members
No defense can be made of the past
scanned, SCARED, mutilated and black
ened by special legislation as it has
been. What is to be said of the laws
Of government which, defining crime
declare that of two men committing
crimes one shall by the law be deemed
guilty and the other by, the selfsame
law be held innocent? What sort of a
democratic brain is it that hunts a
moonshiner to his lair. arrests, con-
victs and jncarcerates him in Fed
eral prison, and elects to the United
States senate the man who buys his
product: 3D.
Special legislation must necessarily
come SO long as the old cry Of my
right" remains the battle cry Of the
Republic and so long as men arc
recognized as good citizens, at the
same time separating themselves and
their interests from the common veal
1 know what hot blood can do.
know how self defense can rapidly
degenerate into willful murder. I car