Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-06-17
SECRETARY WEEKS ON
POLITICS.

~ made m address on the fifteenth
of this month at the commencement,
Of the Western Reserve university
at Cleveland, Ohio. A synopsis OF
the address was printed in the Fri.
day morning issue of this news
paper. It was a remarkable ad-
dress coming from a member OF
President Harding's cabinet, but
we do not wish to comment on IT
from a partisan viewpoint. In fact,
the secretary of war was careful to
say that he was speaking not as
a politician, but as a private citizen
of the United States. Accepting
it as just that we feel like saying
that the secretary of wa gave ex-
preston to feelings that have as
sailed many millions of citizens OF
this republic in recent years. He
was frankly pessimistic and ex-
pressed the opinion that the quality
of public officials and public gov
eminent was growing poorer. He
said he was tempted to state that
the subject of his address was THE
Decline of American Government"
Mr.. Weeks attributes the decline
in the character Of our government
to direct legislation, the primary
system of nominations, bloc legis-
lation based on special class inter
ests, and the readiness of the voters
to accept new amendments to the
constitution. In these he sees the
destruction Of party government, or
rather, government through politi-
cal parties, and the substitution of
a social democracy or mob rule.
He told the students that what we
needed in public life was men
whose acts were controlled by a
n of right and justice rather
than a desire for popularity.
There is a great deal of truth in
the indictment Of the secretary of
war against present day govern
ment of the nation. While he did
not mention congress directly. no
one could miss the drift of his re-
marks. The present congress is
the cheapest and poorest congress-,
measured by character, that ever
assembled in Washington. There
are men Of courage and character
in both houses, men Of ability, high
honor and conscience, who dare to
do the thing they believe to be
right and for the good of the re-
public, whether they lose votes by
their acts or not. There are a good
many such men. We would not be
too pessimistic on that score. But
on the other hand. we think that
anyone who has watched the actions
of this congress and its predecessor
with an open mind, must be con-
WINGED that a large proportion of
Its members are solely influenced
in their votes by the conviction
that the thing they do will or will
not result in getting votes for
themselves or their party. They are
for the thing that they believe to
be popular, whether they believe
1t is to the best interests Of the
nation or'not, whether they believe
it to be right or not. They are
afraid to oppose anything that a
large and compact body of voters
want. They have few, if any, con-
victions that they r not ready to
lay aside if oy so doing they think
they can get votes. They are cow
ards in the face of a threatened loss
of popularity. And that same cow
ardly fear Of loss of popularity
runs through all our public life. 1t
makes for cheaper men and poorer
service. Better have a ma of
strong character and convictions in
public life, even if these eonvic-
tons do not represent the wishes
of the majority, than a weak man
of no convictions, who is so afraid
of his constituents disapproval
that he dare not do right If by so
doing he fears that he will lose
votes.
We agree with Secretary Weeks
that our government is deteriora-
ting and that the destruction of
party government is a bad thing,
so long as we have nothing better
to take its place. A direct refer
endum to the voters on legislation
is not a better way. The masses
of the people are not fitted to
decide complex questions of eco
Monies and diplomacy. W. believe
that tae representative government