Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current, 1940-03-21
CHAPTER Is

The Latin word. Caesar. was
nickname and it meant the hairy
one Il must have applied to one
Oi CailS Julius ancestors. for the
hero Of the IdeS of March judging
By his statues did not have a super
fluOuS hair on his head.
All the same. once he had became
the most important man in Rome.
he gaincd so greatly in stature that
for almost 1000 years after his
Gcath. the heads of the German and
Russian nations we're known as a
Kaiser or 2 Car.
We usually say that Caesar in
tended to make hm@elf the emperor
of Rome. but we forget that an
impcratur III the eyes of the Ro-
mans at tho beginning of our era
was something quite different.
In ancient Rome. an imperator
was the title By which the Roman
dictionaries greeted their command
er-in-chief when he returned from a
victorious campaign. Afterwards It
became dignity which the Roman
senate had the right TO bestoW upon
a PARTICULARLY successful general, the
highest honor in the state.
During the days of Augustus tthe
adopted son of Caesar. when all
the power was finally united in the
hands of a single man, the imper-
ator began 10 be regarded not mere
y as the head of tho army but also
as the head of the civil government
and there after he acquired all sorts
of other titles. such as prinCeps
fist citizen Of the statc) and pom
tick maxlmuS as head OF the eS-
tablishcd religion Of Romeo, or au-
gustus the illustriouS or the su-
blimei
All this was of course utterly un-
Roman if we think of the Rome
of the simple days of Cincinnatus
when people considered that being a
DIain Roman citizen was the highest
honor to which any man could as
pre-.
But during In" many centuries oil
foreign conquest; when the Romans
had come into contact with tho
arlstorracicS and tNrannlCS Ot ASA
they had ioS most of Their former
pride IN Tho liberty and freedom
of the Individual and had been ra-
ther impressed by the way in which
these foreign dictatOrS could get
things done, whereas in their oWr
country. with its endlesSly dellberat-
ing senate. it was often completely
impossible TO pass even the simplest
Of laws and regulations.
All this again sounds very Ia
miliar TO US for the same process
has been going on right under oul
noses these last 20 years and has
carried us to the point when 5oof
America. a the last bulWark OF de
mocracr. may nave 10 tight Tor IL
lIfc if II docs not want to submit Il
the viii ri a foreign dictator.
And even now. with the sad eX
ample Of Europe warning US to Stict
10 our own tried and trusted system
OF democracy. there are SurprlS
lnely large number Of people in gu
uu.n land who. like the Romans o
Carsars day. will tell YOU. Well, al
tor all there is something in thl
dictator stuff. Tie trains run OF
time"
Tho forge, that tn" trains II
or oWn country also rum on time
bnt with Infinitely less fuss ant
circumstance than theE do in TIT
G.ctuoria lands But they will only
begin 70 remember this after they
la.c had a couple of years OF one
man rulc and then it will be too
late. for then they won't even bt
allowed 10 ride on that train UNI
- b. epccIal permission OF some
absurd liulo fellow in high leather
boot, and an old trench coat.
Nevertheless. ancient Rome cal
teach H., q great deal about the pos
,Ibil1ics Of establishing and mann
tanning d true form of democracy
among "A people who have set ou
It, conquer the world.
A. long as Rome had been {
,mallish CITY in which the people
cniovcd the same social and econo
mic privileges. a rudimentary form
Of .clf-governmcnt functioncd VIII
Z great deal Of success.
But the moment II had become al