The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1924-03-05
RE- ESTABLISH CONFIDENCE BY CLEAN.
ING HOUSE.
(By Rep. Theodore Christianson)

(By KEEP. IheOdOfe CnflSClanSOn)
" HE recent disclosures indicate that it is
high time for all political parties to clean
house. Crooks get into every party, as
hypocrites get into every church; and no
church can be condemned on account of the hypo-
critics it holds, can no party be damned because
of the crooks that use it for the furtherance Of
their crooked ends. But as church that makes
it's hypocrites deacons and elders invites suspi-
con, does party that keeps its crooks in
places of power after their crookedness has been
discovered, invite the wrath of the electorate.
1t is time to do some cool thinking; to dis
tinguish between guilt and innocence; to draw a
line between honesty and dishonesty, respecting
the good name of those who have done no wrong.
1t is also time to deal drasticay with the crooks,
to drive them out of their places of power, and
to mark them so they can never return to do mis-
chief
1t is not the fortunes of political parties that
are at stake, but the confidence of the people in
their institutions. If that confidence is shaken,
blow has been struck, not only at form Of
government, but at our civilization.
Confidence is the cement that holds the social
structure together. Without that cement, the
high degree Of organization necessary to main
tain complex civilization would not be possible.
When cease to have confidence in each
other, modern business breaks down, because O..
dern business is based credit; law breaks down,
because its enforcement depends less on fines and
Imprisonment than on faith in the essential in
tegrity and impartiality of the processes Of de-
termining and adjudicating rights; religion breaks
down, because without faith in the ultimate good
of things there would be nothing to evoke
religious aspiration. And if business law and
religion break down, humanity will be on it's way
to the Jungle.
Men need faith today. They need it, more
than they need money, houses, lands and the 9th
er kinds of material wealth; for if they keep the
faith, they will not be without the means Of &C.
curing the other things that sustain and enrich
life.
And the way to restore faith is not to attack
aimessly and Unfortunately, but to find and
destroy evil where it exists, while acknowledge
ing and encouraging the good.
The wave of suspicion that has been sweeping
over the world, and that has not passed America
entirely by, BODIES good. 1t is unfortunate that
selfish grasping men have done much to accentu-
ate suspicion, especially at time when the world
needs confidence and calm. But we would be
weak indeed, if we permitted the apostles Of dis
order and chaos to use the unfortunate events Of
the last few months as means to accomplish the
wrecking of our social order. Let the men and
women who believe in orderly and reasoned pro-
gress rather seize upon the present situation and
make it the means of Strengthening the founda-
lions OF the social structure; they can do it if
they will set themselves resolutely to the task
of driving out of the political parties the money
changers who have polluted the temple.