Arizona republican., 1919-12-09
MAJoRITIEs ALWAYS WIN
BY A. M. Simons

Preachers of violence who sneer at democracy
and appeal to direct action" may be understood, if
by condoned, when they come from nations
where violence is the only means of accomplishing
political changes We know that they speak from
fullness of past impressions and a blindness to
present surroundings But they are bringing goods
to bad market Americans, matter where born,
how recent their arrival, may be known by their
acceptance of other methods.
Before the world America had fought and
two wars to establish better way than that which
leads through violence to arrive at decisions. The
revolutionary waged establish society
upon the principle that all governments derive their
just powers from the of the governed" When
a minority refused to accept the decision of the
majority at the polls the Civil The result
of that made 1t known to all succeeding genera
tons that in this nation the will of the majority,
Enthusiastically expressed, is final until that
jorty changes its mind.
Whoever wishes change, radical reaction
airy, may have it if he convince majority of its
desirabilty.
Will of the Majority Is Carried Out
Our political evolution has consisted largely IN
discovering and adopting institutions find and
out the will Of the majority. Suffrage at
first confined to a small class of propertied males
1t has steadily been extended to classes that
the will of the majority may the better be known
This extension did not come through revolt by the
dsfranchised who might, perhaps, have been better
excused than any other class from using such meth
ods since they debarred from using the ballot
Instead they by convincing majority of the
voters of the necessity of sharing that privilege with
the previously disfranchised
Our tradition of political progress rests upon the
ideas of making it easier for the majority to know
and express it's will The initiative and referendum
adopted against the supposed interests of
noposts of political privilege. Yet it granted
majority made known its desire
powerful minority entrenched itself behind the
constitution and imposed the heavily graduated tar
now being collected
Shedding of Blood Is Not Necessary Here
Shortly after the Civil it became a common
saying that the national constitution would be
amended by bloodshed. But the majority has
added amendment after amendment without the
slightest violence.
The majority has always got what it asked for.
If it sometimes received something did not expect
it only because of the ignorance of the asking.
That such ignorance and disappointment may grow
versal education
Not in all American history has majority
been denied its will Not have its desires been
thwarted.
The machinery for discovering and attaining the
will of the majority is working better than ever be-
fore. We will not scrap that machinery because
impatient revolutionist lacks the patience to
master its operation to await it's product We
shall not give up the ballot box for direct action"
We shall not substitute the strike for universal suf
frage. street riots for educational discussion
The majority is firmly opposed such tactics and
here, as always, the majority will have it's way.