The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1920-06-25
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction In
Europe Follow the Great
World War;
ANALYSIS OF SOVIET RULE
Cold Reasoning Easily Proves Fallacy
on Which the Idea Is Based
pemaeosism Its Foundation
Stone.
Article XXI.
BY FRANK coMEREoRp.

BY FRANK coMERFoRD.
representative government is n fail
ure. He has insisted that the demo-
cratic form of government Is de-
bauched and destroyed by the political
machine; that political corruption We
toes the will Of the people. If Lenine
is right In this conclusion, then the
bolsheyik government in Russia offers
just from three to five times as much
chance for political corruption as our
own form of government. If it is dan
gerous for the American people to
entrust their business to an agent
whom they directly elect and who is
directly responsible to them, how
much more dangerous must 1t be to
turn over the public business to II
men appointed by central executive
committee, the members Of which
have been appointed by an All-Russian
congress. which AllRussian congress
is elected by soviets for whom the
people did not vote? Applying this
pam " bul u"D oul NOh-
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
II 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-
thority to enforce the laws.
Democracy or Autocrscy7
All down through history two the
cries of government have been at war.
One is that the majority shall rule
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
lc, 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
bn the idea that the minority shall
rule. History shows that minority
rule has always cnslaved the major
ty. The rule of minority over
majority means slavery for the many.
/ is humnR nature. The principle
always works the same result. If II
s a political meeting and the minor.
ty runs 1t, the result is machine
md boss. When 1t is q nation. you
aave a bureaucracy and a Dictator de-
living his power, not from the consent
If the governed but from the bay
snets OF the army. There may be room
or honest differences of opinion be-
ween honest qaeR on many questions,
lut there is not any room for differ
nee of opinion among honest free
men on the proposition that minority
uie is q menace.
In Article I'LL OF the bolshevik con.
ltitution We find ine0ntroxertible evil
lence that the government of soviet
Russia is built on the tyrant's stone,
minority ruie. Section Is reads:
1.-THE Aii-Russian congress 10 COM
,osed of representatives of city sovi-
IT'S In the ratio Of one delegate for
very 25,0O0 voters, and of represent
.tives of the soviets Of the provinces Ia
he ratio Of one delegate for every
%, 900 inhabitants"
Discrimination Against Peasants.
No explanation is given for basing
he representation In congress from
he cities ON the number of voters,
While the representation In congress
rom the provinces is based OF the
lumber of inhabitants. The words are
lOt synonyms. voter is an inhabit-
int of certain age and possessing GER
:ain qualifications. An inhabitant is
anyone who lives In the province, re-
kardIess Of age or qualifications. If
he word inhabitant Is given the same
meaning that the word voter is given.
then it is apparent that the constitu.
lion unjustly. discriminates against
he "poor peasant" AS they have had
no general elections In RUSSIA, ii Ia
impossible to give the official construc-
tion of these two words. If the word
inhabItant means any man. woman or
child living In the province. the dis
elimination against the poor peas
ants" IS just as obvious. although if
does not go TO the same length. As
an illustration. II we read this i'm
pcrtant provision of the constitution
giving to the word lnhabitiht the same
meaning as we give to the word voter,