The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1920-05-14
PROBLEMS FACING
A STRICKEN WORLD
BY FRANK coMERFoRD.

ure. He has insisted that the Demo /
cratic form of government is de
bauched and destroyed by the political
machine; that political corruption We
tees the will Of the people. II Lenine
is right In this conclusion, then the
bolshevfk government In Russia offers
just from three TO five times as much
chance for political corruption as our
own form Of government II 1t Is dan
gerous for the American people to
entrust their business to an agent
whom they directly elect and who In
directly responsible to them, how
much more dangerous must II be to
turn over the public business to IL
men appointed by g central executive
committee, the members OF which
have been appointed by an All-Russian
congress, which All-Russian congress
Is elected by soviets for whom the
people did not vote? Applying this
plan to our own government, our con-
gress would be elected by the state
legislatures and the aldermen Of the
cities, then this congress so elected
would pick an executive committee OF
200, and this committee would elect
IT commissioners to whom would be
given the supreme power Of the state,
both legislative and executive power,
the right to make laws. and the au-
thorfty to enforce the laws.
Democracy or Autoeraeyf
All down through history two the
cries of government have been at war.
a. kAok he
the other, that the minority shall rule.
The people struggling for freedom
have battled for the former; the few
seeking special privileges have fought
! for the latter. The first is democrat
ic, the second autocratic. No compro-
mise Is possible; there is no middle
ground. These two antagonistic ideas
have nothing In common like parallel
lines, they can never meet, In their
nature they are separate and apart.
The government Of the late kaiser Of
Germany, the government Of Nicholas,
the autocrat of Russia, were founded
on the idea that the minority shall
rule. History shows that minority
rule has always enslaved the major
| fty. The rule of a minority over 9
majority means slavery for the many
It I'm human nature. The principle
always works the same result. II Il
Is a political meeting and the minor
ity runs 1t, the result is a machine
and a boss. When 1t Is a nation, yor
have a bureaucracy and a dictator, de
irving his power not from the consen
Of the governed, but from the bay
onets Of the army. There may be roon
for honest differences of opinion be
tween honest men on many questions
but there Is not any room for differ
ence Of opinion among honest fire.
men on the proposition that minorit
, rule is a menace.
In Article III Of the bolshevik con
stttution we find incontrovertible evi
dence that the government Of sovie
! Russia is built on the tyrant's stone
minority rule. Section % reads:
'aThe All-Russian congress is con
posed Of representatives Of city SOW
cts in the ratio Of one delegate fo
every $4,000 voters, and of represen
atives Of the soviets Of the provinces 1
: the ratio of one delegate for ever
: 1875 900 inhabitants"
Determination Against Peasants.
II No explanation is given for basin
: the representation in congress frol
q the cities on the number Of voter
, while the representation in congress
from the provinces Is based on I'll
:, number of inhabitants. The words al
not synonyms, a voter is an inhabi
G ant Of certain age and possessing &c
= tain qualifications. An inhabitant
- anyone who lives in the province, r
CARELESS OF age or qualifications.
the word inhabitant Is given the san
. meaning that the word voter is give
then it is apparent that the constit
ton unjustly discriminates again
a the poor peasant" AS they have hi
no general elections in Russia, 1t
impossible to give the official constru
ton Of these two words. If the wo
> inhabitant means any man, woman
g child living In the province, the di
elimination against the poor pea
ants" is just as obvious, although
does not 90 to the same length.
an Illustration, IL we read this II
~ portant provision Of the constitute
e giving to the word inhabitant the sar
meaning as we give to the word vot,
then we see that the voters of t
city have one congressman for eve
$4,000, while the poor peasant
have one congressman for every u
600. IL we construe the word vot
to mean the qualified legal voter, a.
=, the word inhabitant to mean any b
ne man being living in the provinces,
OF learn that the people Of the city ha
p. one congressman for every $50
ed voters, while the people Of the prt
inces have one congressman for eve
g., 500 voters. reach this estimf
in the following manner: In the Unit
States we estimate that there II o
voter In every Ave Of the populate
This calculationais based upon m.
suffrage alone, with the voting q
. fixed at twenty-one years. In Russ
W both men and women have the 81
\ frage. and the age qualifying one
vote Is eighteen years. ], thereto
"a figure that there would be one vs
for every two I'm population. There
ne question about the discriminate
Tn against the poor peasant" and the
~ Soring Of the city voter. It In Oh
y question Of how much.
q Machine PoIlticM