Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-06-12
POSSIBLY A THOUGHT HEaE

POSSIBLY THOOS3T heWe
1t may be profitable to stop long
enough to let this fact soak In: We
are under no control. politically
speaking. other than that Of our
selves. some hundred and ten mil
lion of us.
Notwithstanding this, 80 manifest
and so important responsibility,
many Of US do not bother" to 60
10 tho polls. shirk even the common.
essential obligations. We leave the
governing to others and then
criticise the manner in which they
handle our affairs that we neglect
altogether.
Then we read in the news that
whore there were 260 homicides in
New York in 1922 there were but 9
in the city OF London! Do we
wonder why? We must be stupid
II we do. There is no mystery about
It. other than the mystery why we
don't wake up and attend with
some care to our own important
concerns.
What Is to be thought Of the
intelligence Of people that thinks
all II has to do is to get laws passed
or an appropriation out Of Con-
gress? Why. the newsboys in the
street know better than that. And
every thug in the land is thumbing
his nose at the dear people," who
pass resolutions and 60 home to
. snooze OF the effects of their
yirtuous resolving!
Speaking before the Commercial
Standards Council, Harry d. Minis,
a member Of the New York bar. de-
clared that in the matter of the
prohibitory law this country 10 I'M
dsrsoins "a stiff laboratory test in
law because It has made everyone
face the question: What Is my per-
sonal attitude toward law"
Then he went on to make COM
ments which bught to be worth
FASTING in our hats for ready
reference:
Being a citizen today requires
more understanding, more patience,
and moro self than it did
fifty years ago.
Most Of us fail to realize this.
Our attitude toward the law and
toward public affairs Is largely that
of a generation ago.
We have not stopped to contrast
the demands which government and
law make upon citizen in 1924
with the demands which they made
on the citizen of 1924, or in 1874.
Our capacity to maintain. to live
under and to cooperate with an
effective legal system has not kept
pace with this growth.
Never before in history has bust
ness placed such a strain On indi-
vidual character as 1t does today.
These conditions create problems
with which the law has had no &C.
casion to deal in former times. II
modern business strains the char
ing strain on law. The business Of
a hundred years ago compared to
that Of today was child's play. In
those days, we are led to believe,
the problems of government and OF
citizenship were deemed Of more i'm
portance than the problems of BUSH
ness, and were more widely dis
cussed. Today the demands Of busi-
ness seem to leave no time for the
problem of citizenship" -
1T should therefore sober US into
sharp attention to learn that we
seem to stand before the world to-
day a. the most lawless Of all the
great civilized nations"
And II. the face of all this every
one. who stops to think and has the
brains With which to think, ought to
be able, to comprehend the self
evident fact that government like
ours cannot function properly ex-
cept it command the confidence and
esteem bf the large majority Of the
people. . To carry on" we must
have faith in the honesty and
capacity of our government. which
Is another way OF saying we must
have faith in ourselves born Of the
knowledge that we are performing
well the duties devolving on US a.
citizens OF this republic. We better
respect the laws we sanction IL We
do not want to see them replaced
nv the law of the Jungle.