The star-progress. (Opelousas, La.) 1917-1921, 1921-03-02

behind that government nave ue9h
one of the chief reasons for our nation
al grandeur and power and our Well
being as individuals.
l shall offer no apology for giving
the reasons for the beliefs above eH-
dressed. and at the same time l VIII
set forth what I consider to be some
Of the distinguishing characteristics
of a Republic.
Common misunderstanding
whatever may have been the forms
of government in the past, they have
now been largely supplanted by limit
ed monarchies and republics. Since
the European war the form of absolute
monarchy exists only in few small
nations. The limited or constitutional
monarchy still survives, though
in a lessened number of countries.
There is a growing tendercy through
out the world to discard monarchy
in favor of one of the more popular
forms of governme~
For the purpos is unnecessary
to deal at length with monarchical
systems. 1t will be enough to point
out that governments of that type
are likely to represent hereditary in
terests and aristocratic privilege.
1t is of the very greatest Importance
at this time to distinguish between
democracy because the common mis-
understanding of these two terms has
of late caused much confusion in pub
lie affairs.
A well known writer (Bluutschlt'
falls into error--by no means an I'M
common one of confOunding the two
forms. He says Encyclopedia OF
Political Science, Vol. /, p. 1859 that
IN America has been produced tine
most powerful democracy in the form
of representative republic"
If this were a mere confusion OF
terms, it might be an unimportant mat
ter, though / submit that it is impossi-
BILE to imagine nay two ideas which
arc more opposed to each other than
those embodied in the words ode
mocra1y" and republic"
1t is because of our increasing ten
dency to carry this muddled state Of
thinking into the operations Of our
government, and to substitute dem
ocracy for the republic which our
Fathers established, that leads me to
make this protest.
The contrast between democracy
and q republic it not less plain than
that between night and day or be
tween black and white!
1t is the essence Of a democracy
that the people rule directly.
1t is the essence of a republic that
the people rule through representa-
tives.
Attempts at Democracy
The nearest approach to demo
crazy in ancient times was afforded
by Greece, but it represented only q
small minority of the people-the ma
jority being slaves. One Of the most
notable achievements of this actual
democracy was the putting of Soc
rates, the greatest philosopher of his
time, to death.
In modern times the democratic
principle has been applied in limit
ed way in the Swiss cantons.
Perhaps the Russian soviets for a
time exhibited most strikingly the
methods and results of an attempt to
establish a democracy. The work
men in factories voted themselves
such hours and pay as they wished.
Soldiers in the trenches established
their own code of military rules
Children in the schools voted rebel
lion against their teachers. Sailors
aboard ships voted to ignore the or
ders Of their captains. The authority
Of parents over their children was
put aside in like way The confu- |
sion that resulted from this attempt
at Simon-pure democracy led to des-
potism by Lenine and Trotsky as the
remedy.
Practically all authorities agree that
a pure democracy is not feasible in
any country having a wide area and |
large population.
Public Judgment
While the constitution of the Uni |
ted States, which is the great charter |
of our free republic, does carefully
enumerate and safeguard the rights
of the people, and grants to all citi-
zens of requisite qualifications the |
right to vote for president and mem !
bers of congress, it confers no auth
ority upon the people to enact legisla- /
ton, to interpret the laws or to En-
force them. These duties are express
ly conferred upon the legislative, ex-
ecutive and judicial officers.
In other words, in a republic the |
people delegate these important mat
tiers to agents, which the people |
choose either directly or indirectly.
In my opinion the most conspicu-
Gus advantage of the republican form
of government is that by fairly open
for the honors of public
service, combined with the sober de-
LihfratiOn which the secret individual