The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1922-12-15

| iNOuNl w iLObiO IL NCiiiNASoNj iNoi
dent of the Sentinels of the Re
public, which is so full of the
Greene common sense and patrio-
tism that we are reproducing it.
since it will do us all good to read
it and ponder over it, 1t gets
back to fundamentals, which are
essentially the same in all genera
ons no matter how much we
try to floss them up with new isms.
He writes:
am sorry | shall not be able to get to
Boston tomorrow to attend the mass
meeting at Symphony hall conducted by
the newly organized Sentinels of the
Republic to commemorate the two hun
dredth anniversary of the birth of Samuel
Adams. But | hope the best of success
will crown this first public demonstration
of the new society whose slogan is every
citizen Sentinel; every home sentry
box"
That last phrase tells the whole story.
every home sentry box" The genius
of the English speaking civilization from
earliest days has ever made the hearthst-
stone both the foundation and the shrine
of its social order. Civic liberty was born
at the Preside, was reared and made strong
by experience in local self-government,
and forever renewed itself in successive
generations of men and women who did
not expect the nations government to do
for them what they ought to do for them
selves at home.
This American experiment in civics was
originally meant to be popular govern
ment, deriving its just powers from the
consent of the governed" proceeding
from the countless hearthstones of the
land of Washington, and not descending
from Washington upon the hearthstones.
The sturdy old idea of a sturdy old genera
ton was that that was the best govern
ment that governed least and still main
tanned healthy social order Faithful
to that policy, Free Government in Ameri-
ca waxed and prospered for many years.
But nowadays misguided public in
terest is persistently uprooting the local
self-government that has bred strong men
and women for the conduct of national
affairs, is centralizing the government in
well-nigh innumerable bureaus and COM
missions at Washington, and through
one device and another of Paternalism is
seducing the ancient spirit of independence
and self-reliance among our people, gradu
ally bringing them to be dependent upon
the will and favor of politicians in the
national capital, and implanting in them
an ever-gro wing sense of irresponsiblity
and ease that can in the end but breed a
generation of parasites and helpless de-
pendents with whom no so-called Free
Government could either actually govern
or be free.
every home sentry box!" 1t is
time to rouse the multitude to an under
standing of the danger that confronts
them and their children and their children's
children. These paternalistic devices
now being introduced to people
whose forebears would have Indignantly
repealed the attempt to pauperize them,
are but the vain inventions of political
doctors who are desperately struggling to
dose into few more fickers of life the
decaying civic institutions and social
order of lands across the sea. They are
desperate Old World attempts to keep an
outraged multitude quiet yet little while
longer. They are Old World remedies
brought over here to cure country that
isn't sick.
''Every home sentry boxp Let us
highly resolver to restore the old balance
of power between the States and the
Federal Government in every respect
Consistent with national integrity and
safety. Let us restore to the fullest
practical measure the old spirit and policy
of local self-government among our people.
Let us bend our energies as far as may be
upon the idea of developing the strength
of the nation through the nursery of the !
Home and the Home Community. The |
Government at Washington can never be
any stronger than the Homes it comes out
of. Let us maintain all the government
we can at Home, where we can keep our
eyes on it.
The Titusville Star Advocate
(Fla.) says "When John Wana-
maker, the merchant prince, was
asked the secret of his success, he
said, 'Prin ers' ink And John
never had to deadhead his publici-
ty." He knew that he had the
goods and that the public wanted
the goods and the that medium to
reach between his goods and the
public was the press. We would
20 back of "John's" diagnosis and
say that the secret of his success
was his business judgment, which
includes his use of printers ink