The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1920-12-30
oNE.MAN GOVERNMENT.

The certainty of the ultimate failure OF oneman govern
ment is impressvey emphasized by that eminent historian
Edward Gbbon In his account of the beginning OF the de-
cline of the Roman Empire he tells us that II man were can
ed upon to fix the period in the history Of the world during
which the condition of the human was most happy ana
prosperous he would without hesitation name that PERIOD IN
the history of Rome when the Empire was governed p apso
lutte power under the guidance of virtue and wisdom lie
remarks however that although the abors OF mperor then
in mower were overad by the immense reward that INSOFAR
ably waited their by the honest PRIDE OF virtue ana
by the exquisite delight of behoding the general happiness
of which they the authors yet they must often have
recoected the instability Of happiness which depended on
the character Of a single man."
The people of Rome accustomed to a government
with the Legislative body subservien in position to
cope with the ignorant and vicious ran whose reign mark
ed the beginning of the end Of the Roman Empire.
The American people may well congratulate themselves
and feel confidence the perpetuy of American
liberty with the inauguration next March of administration
which rejects both the sembance and the reality of oneman
rule brings the administration of the affairs of the
eminent the best minds and highest characters available for
the promotion of the general welfare.
1t is not necessary to characterize Woodrow Wilson as
vicious in order to show the faacy of his theories of govern
ment He to the highest executive office in the land
almost entirely ignorant of the affairs of the people whom he
undertook govern He had been in any assocat
ed with productive industry He had earned his bread
by the sweat of his brow e had been engaged in trade
any competitive enterprise His life had been confined
chiefly to the shooroom where autocracy regned supreme
1t not to he expected that possessing his
passed egosm his unreasoning preudces and his unyed
ing subboness could be transformed in the twinking of
eye from of such human nrmties to divinity capable
of administering with both virtue and wisdom the complicated
affairs of hundred million people It is not at all surprising
that of such aggressive seonceit should surround
himself largely with of incompetence and that a result
the business of the government conducted necenty
and extravagany with steadily growing encroachment of
bureaucracy the legitimate activities of private initiative
and enterprise.
Not only in the methods pursued in conducting his cam
pagn for election but in the frequent conferences he has
since held with prominent of all sorts of economic views
from all parts of the country the election Mr. Harding
has given cause for to the people of the United
States relative to the future of private business and public
welfare Although his public and private record have demon
strated him to be of the highest character and of
training which fits him in unusual degree for the admins
aon of the public business yet he does not purpose place
TINS country in the position described by Gbbon his story
of Rome's decline he instability of happiness which de-
ponds on the character of a single man."