Evening star., 1923-10-14
Bf THOMAS II, MARSHALL,
Former Vice President Of the Unite,
States,

rOrmer vice president OF the Inftes
States.
4 T Is debatable, of course. whethe,
familiarity breeds contempt. W.
grow so accustomed to certain
scenes and certain sounds thai
they cease to have any effect upor
our lives. This is well illustrated b.
crossing accidents on the. railways
where the right to recover damage.
depends upon the failure of the engi.
neer TO sound the whistle and rims
the bell. Those who live adjacent te
the crossing almost invariably swea,
that the engineer was negligent il
the discharge of this duty. Nine
times out of ten they are mistaken
1t generally is established that the
engineer performed his duty. The
neighbors have Just grown so accus
toned TO the sound that they paid nj
attention to 1t.
Every one. nearly. is conversant
with the Lords Prayer. save the con
gressman who wanted the chaplain
removed for plagiarism because he re.
peated 1t. The prayer Is uttered glib.
1y by the tongues of millions of mer
every week, II not every day, in the
year; Who shall say whether thi;
have added to or detracted from the
galue of the prayer to the people
Something OF Its true spirit may have
been lost by Its very common use
YET IT would be wholly dangerous
experiment for the church and the
individual man to cease this repeti-
non and bring the prayer to the at
tehtion of mankind only in the sab
batlcal years. The droppings OF
water drop by drop may have nc
perceptible effect upon the stone be-
meath. but year by year the repetition
OF these drops eventually will wear
away the hardest granite Until g
charter for some guaranty company
shall issue from the Kingdom Come
assuring the world that il Is beconl
ing TOO familiar wt-h the Lords
Prayer, II cannot be too often re-
peated, although the repetition may
be merely mechanical.
y =
So ii Is with the basic principles OF
democracy; they must constantly be
repeated. They may fall on dull and
listless ears; they possibly may be
unheard. but the ceasing of their
constant repetition would be dan
BerouS 10 the republic.
Even in this careless age men are
willing TO admit that in most Of the
affairs OF life they must pay price
whether 1t may happen to be ar
adequate one or not. Few there may
De who believe that they can live
successfully by their wits, but most
men realize they must pay a fair
price for whatever they hope to
achieve in life. Yet. there are thou
sands of Americans who. admitting
this universal law, claim 1t holds for
each of them one startling exception.
Whether they believe their claim or
not. do not know. but certainly their
conduct indicates they do. The num-
Der of persons who believe In self
government, and yet who are not self
governed, is far too large.
/ can understand the Irritation OF a
person or a people who believe in
freedom and the rights OF man over
the attempt of other men to rule by
discretion. / am not able to COM
prehend, however, why men are un-
willing to be governed by the laws
they themselves make. There Is sit
ting now In the city of Washington
a convention of men and women gath
cred from all the states to consider
the question OF law enforcement. par
ticularly of the Volstead act. Whether
this is needful or not, / am unable to
say. Sponsors OF the convention
stated in their call that there Is in
certain sections an alarming degree
of violation of the statutes and dan
gerous, widespread indifference to
all kinds of laws which seem to In
terfere with so-calIed personal lib
erty": that this disregard of the fun
damental processes Of law enactment
and enforcement. IL permitted to go
unrestrained will eyenfiIally ma nife ST
itself In violation of all law: that
solidarity and eager activity do not
exist among the leaders of the
churches and religious societies in