The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1953-11-20
Olsen Commended For
Campaign On Gambling
Iitor Of The Peoples Voice

Editor of The Peoples Voice
Dear Sir:
Several comments that our Attorney
General, Arnold II. Olsen, has made
prompts me to write the following, ar
ticle.
One of the first and most important
requirements of people in a democrat
ically oriented government is personal
and active responsibility. This de-
mands that the individual be respon-
sible to his personal needs and work
toward helping society reach desira BILE
goals. Surely it is recognized by now
that in democratic government the
individual is benefited directly as So
ciety is aided, and that the social or
ganism can not grow strong without
the spontaneous assistance of each of
its members
When Mr. Olsen took the occasion
to remind some of the law enforce
ment officers of their duty, I thought
that this indicated a weakness on the
part of the citizens as well as the of
ficers so reprimanded 1t should hard
ly be necessary for the Attorney Cen
eral to call these people to account if
the citizens of the respective com
munities were assuming their proper
responsibility to the government of
their choosing. They could and should
have exerted a form of social coercion
which would have forced their duly
elected officials to perform their dut-
les without the support of the Attor-
ney General.
That Mr.. Olsen did issue orders to
the effect that these laws were bind
ing and should be enforced is deff-
mite proof that he is interested in the
welfare of the society Of which he too
is member. But that at least one Of
ficials receiving his memorandum re-
marked that his motives could be in
terpreted as political, shows that that
individual either does not realize the
danger of failure to enforce laws or
does not realize the propriety of the
Attorney Generals position or both. In
either case, there is some conclusion to
be drawnl
Our Attorney General is doing just
exactly as the people who elected him
expect him to do, and if he had failed
to do his duty as prescribed by law,
and according TO his oath Of office |
then the official who is criticizing him |
would have. some Legitimate grounds. |
The fact that there was such a storm
of comment about Mr. Olsen's letters
to the County Attorneys seems out of !
place except i'm a society which is suf-
fering from social responsibility caus- /
ed by mental laZiness, or more possib- |
~, the cause lies in the lap of mass |
communication which defers to specu- |
latiye accounts of events rather than |
just honest to John" reports of the !
events. Any mans mind when put to I
the strain of boiling down these specu-
lations to where they make sense is
going to be tired, and quite possibly,
before he gets through, he says,
What's the use?" After months of the
same old thing, he is apt to say that
there is little use in trying to keep
up with events because you have to
re- interpret each account keeping in
mind the prejudice of each writer.
Perhaps it is necessary to shout
about truly important things in order
to get through the mire of the afore-
mentioned front page editorials" If
so, should like to put my bid in to
shout about one of the most import
ant aspects of national defense. The
problem to which refer must be salts
solved before a military vic
tory over Russia will make ten cents
worth of difference so far as our des-
tiny is concerned. Are there any takers?
Respectfully,
KEITH Il. HAMILTON,
Browning