The Clio messenger., 1921-06-30

A gentleman who claimed to be
posted said in our presence, not long
ago, that there were two hundred
thousand paid agitators in our
country who are spreading propa-
ganda favoring the forcible over
throw of the government of the Uni
ted States. That such should be the
case seems incredible, and yet the
gentleman claimed to have accurate
and official information regarding his
statement. This is certainly some
what disturbing and yet we cannot
admit that it constitutes an i'm
mediate menace. Two hundred thou
sand is but an atom among a popula-
ton of one hundred and ten million
or more. If true, however, it re-
veals a condition that requires at
tention. Leaving aside the senti-
mental attachment that all good citi-
zens must feel for the government
of the great republic, considering
it solely from logical standpoint,
there is no reason for the existence
of the so-called radical in this coun-
try. Under our fundamental law,
the people through the election of
their representatives in the congress,
can achieve any reform or any change
they may desire within a short space
of time and without violence and
revolution. Our government is quick
ly and directly responsive to the will
Of the people, and it is only through
the free exercise of the elective
franchise that the will of the people
can be ascertained. The radicals
would set this eminently sensible and
fair arrangement aside and for the
orderly rule of the majority, based
upon intelligence and deliberation,
substitute the rule of the mob, based
upon murder, the torch and the bomb.
Processing great devotion to the peo-
Pile, their plan of operation fails to
respect them entirely. Advocating
the rule of all and for all they would
actually substitute therefor the rule
of q most incapable and tyrranical
minority. Traditional protestants of
force, they are become its chief ex-
ponents. Advocates of progress, as
they term themselves, they would
nullify the mighty achievements of
education and intellect and make
supreme in the direction of the
worlds affairs the most incapable
and ignorant. Champions Of labor,
they would set aside the essentially
individual virtues of industry and
thrift, and place a premium upon
mediocrity and Incidence. Under
their rule the masterpieces of human
genius, the splendid creations of
architecture, the progressive achieve
ments of engineering, the beauties
of painting and sculpture, the rich
heritage Of literature, everything
that exalts the mind of man to its
highest possibilities, all would Ian
guish and die and the world sink
back to a drab, dead level of mere
existence. And is all this, or any
of it, likely to occur in free America,
where the best people live under the
best government yet devised by the
mind Of man? May God forbid! We
do not believe it. But like old Kit
Carson, while we trust in God, we
would keep our powder dry" These
radicals are not only the enemies
Of our government, they are the
enemies of civilization, and public
safety demands that they be eradicat-
ed. The individual who advocates
change in government, based upon
free expression Of the peoples
will, has a right to his views and to
publicly advocate them, but the man
who advocates the overthrow Of popu-
lar government through the use of |
the torch and the bomb should be |
meted out, swiftly and surely, pun
ishment befitting the arch criminal
that he is. There is no logic in nur-
turing vipers such as these in our
country's bosom.