Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1921-12-28
IS NDIVIDUALISM DEAD?.

Some time about one hundred and
fifty years ago, Patrick Henry stood
UP in the assembly of Virginia and
Numbered, Give me Liberty or give
me Death" All through the days of
the revolution following this historic
phrase served to l1indle the tagging
spirits of the patriots. Henry meant
just what he said He wanted Liberty,
Personal Liberty to be a free man, or
wanted to die.
Much water has run over the mill
American affairs since the days of
Henry and III that period, it seems to
US, the intense love for liberty, the
desire to be a conscious entity, q
human soul IN search of light and
progress, has slowly withered
Liberty to the Colonials meant
something personal. 1t meant no
taxation without representation 1t
meant breaking the shackles of King
Georges guardianship which kept
the colonies in swaddling clothes,
and striking boldly forward to a
great destiny. Ignorant and inlet
tered, crude and uncultured, yes, all
these, glorious promise
MEN
In these days and for many years
past, the gradual tendency of the
government, state and national, has
been to usurp these principles Of in
dividual liberty substituting in their
place a guardianship. At its best
this guardianship is kindly and
means we'll but the object, the patient
people, are showed hither and thither
by the guardians, the commissions.
the bureaus and bureaucrats, that
surround and eventually stifie US. AT
its worst the guardians lose their
high-minded purpose and become
mere busybodies when they are not
chair-warmers and office holders.
This is what is meant by paternal-
ism. Absolute authority from above
depending for it's full effect upon a
suppliant, child-like and unlearned
citizenry below. Educate the citizen
and the whole rotten, damnable fab
ric will fall to its Well merited decay.
Individualism seems dead and the
individual who may in his indignant
dismay over the sad state of affairs,
cry out. is damned by paternalists as
d tight-wad and a knocker.
However, there are signs of late
that the old spirit may be revived.
Many people are indignant over the
gradual Capitalization of all control
by the capital If considerable cutlery
is heard from now on the paternalists
have only themselves to blame for it.
In road affairs the state highway
commission is in absolute control
The state highway law reiterates fol-
lowing the various provisos, ''as APP
proved by the state highway commits
sion" In other words the people who
use the roads and pay for them must
leave the construction, routing, loca-
tion ETC.. to the commission. The
commission has the last word in the
matter and does as it pleases, or as
its engineers please. Not even the
peoples county road committee can
set its will against the wishes of the
state commission.
In Lancaster. for instance, the
people own their own water system
One would naturally think that own
ing and using its sytem for its own
benefit the city would have the say
so as to how it is run but such is not
the case-the state railroad commits
sion tells the city what to do. The
Farmers Telephone Co. a mutual
concern, is under the same rules. The
stockholders are not allowed to run
their own business. The commission
tells them what they must do and
they do it. municipalities are not