The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1919-08-05
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VOX POPULI
REVOLUTIONS, REFORMS AND
JUSTICE.
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By B. Gonzalez.

BY B. Gonzalez.
ITO know the future. study the
past.
When Confucius, the great Chinese
philosopher and moralist, uttered this
;ruism, he presented to the statesmen
Of the world an aphorism which should
guide them in their stewardship as
wards and agents of the nations.
AS the builders of the tower or
Babel were prevented In their work
from reaching the plains of heaven
by 4 confusion of tongues. SO are ma
tons today failing to arrive at
haven of peace from q confusion Of
ideas. Are they not persisting in
their folly of paying for experience
which may be had for nothing and by
edhsring to the maxim OF the old
Chinese philosopher?
The egotism and obduracy Of man
is SO glaringly obvious that we have
revolutions and commissions in gov
ernments. Are we to infer that by
special decree of divine Providence
they must occur to warn rulers that
their neglect in conforming to the
rules of justice, by oppressive laws,
are responsible for the revolutions
that take pls ce?
Do not these outbreaks and up
heavals in the political world bear
the same relation to it as earthquakes
do In the physical? Witliou. earth
quakes we would not have IN inch
of dry land to stand on.
As the world is composed of three
fourths water and one-fourth land and
also the waves of the seas. and as
currents of rivers are constantly cat
ing into and destroying the land,
would we not be submerged il there
were not some agent at work 70 coun-
teract these annihilating forces
Whenever there is destructive
power in nature there is a renovating
one. Whenever there is a depression
at one point by earthquakes. there is
an excessive elevation elsewhere
showing that nature keeps the world
balanced by her inexorable laws
And does not revolution perform a
like office for the maintenance and
perpetuation of better governments :.
When they become oppressive and un-
balanced; when rulers grow indiffer-
ent to the welfare of their subjects:
when they will not carry out the de-
signs and purposes of states; when
they think only of their own personal
gain and randizement-then auth
ors and instigators OF revolutions are
born; reforms are established, and out
of the ruins better governments are
formed.
Should we not reflect deeply upon
the advice given by Confucius?
Does not history furnish ample rea-
sons and examples to follow for pre-
venting disorders and upheayals in
states and Kingdoms?
II we are not instructed by past
miSfortunes. by what methods are we
to be enlightened? Are we to rely upon
chance and not upon experience to
remedy evils that exist and present
themselves in the formation of gov
ernments?
As there is no affect without a
cause what causes are operating to
punish us with such a magnitude of
revolutions? Is it not due 20 the inJus-
tice of man TO man. associated with .
want or craftsmanship on the part OF
rulers? We cannot make statesmen
out Of just anything that poses as a
model of wisdom. any more than we
can make kid glove out of a pigs
ear
To make statesmen they must be
moulded first into philosophers, and
to become philosophers they must be
gifted with experience The true