The Washington herald., 1921-03-23

The people of the United States
have been indulging In dangerous
experiments in government in the
last twenty years. leaving behind
them the golden mean" in govern
ment set up for all time by our
fathers In 1888 when they. wrote
the Constitution Of this Republic,
Atwood says. -
Up to that time the world had
drifted much as bewildered mar
iner. without chart or compass, upon
a trackless ocean. cropping for q
form ~of government which would
provide the middle course between
autocracy and democracy.
Tyranny. conquest, militarism.
lawlessness, mob -mindedness. riot,
persecution. oppression, rebellion
these are the W.. AZ" says Atwood,
that describe the long-continued
unsuccessful efforts and experiment
al failures in government for ap-
proximately 1000 years.
HISTORY GAN SHOW
NO PERFECT GOVERNMENT.
Its a startling statement,c he
continued, but an indisputable fact.
that in reviewing the centuries of
history prior to the founding of the
Republic Of the United States we
find no country to which the his
torian can point and truthfully say:
There was . government that work
ed we'll.
But when this Republic was
founded. Immediately awe and ad-
miration on the part of the peo-
pie OF foreign countries developed
into emulation, and they began to
modify their ideals and ideas OF
government. We radiated over the
world the rays of light. hope, of
justice, Of common sense, and of
scientific governmental procedure:
and while making that matchless
record. and welding that splendid
world influence, we made for the
United States of America the undis-
puted leading place among the ma
tions because we were enjoying the
best form of government mankind
has ever known"
All OF the above was Characteristic
or American up to 1900, Atwood
says, but since that time, with the
institution of such ideas in govern
ment as the initiative, the refef-
endum, the recall of the judiciary.
the creation of burdensome boards.
commissions and other government
al agencies, we have been grow
ing more mob-minded every year"
in his opinion.
SHOULD NEVER HAVE
CHANGED CONSTITUTION,
Atwood would never have made
a single amendment to the Consti-
tuition. All the provisions OF the
amendments could have been en-
acted into statutory measures, he
declares.
The various States have modelled
their constitutions less and less
after the plan of the Federal Con-
stitution," he says, land have in
ciuded in them much that should
properly have been statutory ma
terial. In their constitutions thew
have provided for the election Of
oficers other than the executive and
members of the legislative bodies.
More and more we have drifted
away from the moorings of the Con-
stitution toward the whirlpools of
democracy"
,"Demagogues ond propagandists.
onnded with egomania- have kept
Up constant campaign OF agita-
tion in the various States for the
initiative, referendum, recall.
boards. commissions, city managers.
socialistic doctrines and anarchistic
heresies, until we may truthfully
say that for some years we have
been passing through an age such
as Alexander Hamilton must have
had In mind when he said: There
are seasons in every country when
noise and impudence pass current
for worth, and in populous COM
munities especially the ciamor of
interested and factious men Is often
mistaken for patriotism"
James Bryce. in The American
Commonwealth" written about
thirty years ago, when boards and
commissions were not so prevalent,
wrote as the opening sentence In
chapter ]. what do you think of
our institutions?' is the question
addressed to the European traveller
In the United States by every chance
acquaintance" Atwood SAYS that
today an American cannot po,n,
with the same degree of pride to all
civic ideas and movements dubbed
rightly or wrongly American"
GOVERNMENTAL SYSTEM
BECOMING CHAOTIC.
What do you think of our Ohio
and Oklahoma State constitutions"
demands Atwood. Gould any IN
telligent American citizen point
with pride to either of those docu-
ments! What DO you think of pre-
senting a. ballot to the voter con-
tanning the names of 334 candi-
dates, or baHot over six feet Ions
covered with printed matter, upon
which a vote is to be cast within
two minutes of time?
What do you think of having
12s boards and commissions in a
single State. in addition to an ex-
ecutive. two legislative bodies. and
seven other elective officials?" he
continued. what do you think of
more than doubling the expenses OK
government in nearly every State in
the Union during the decade from
1903 to 1912? What do you think
OF spending over 100000 of the
taxpayers money on primaries and
elections in Cook County, Illinois,
In the single year of 1916. aside
from the personal expenses of a
horde of candidates.
What do you think Of our enact
ing over $4,000 new statutes in this
country during the five-year period
from 1909 to 1918. Inclusive, and of
our having $1,000 decisions of courts
of last resort during those same five
years and compiling 631 large vof-
umes of decisions?
The conditions that have been