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10
The Commoner,
VOLUME 10, NUMBER
ht
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Masterpieces of the
World's Literature
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"If the People Rule Why Don't
They Get What They Want ?
ft
Isaac Rimel, Wichita, Kan. Oiie
of the great causes that prevent the
people getting what they want is
found in the halls of congress. Some
eighteen or twenty years ago under
the speakership of Mr. Reed the
rules adopted destroyed popular gov
ernment in the house of, representa
tives. From that day to this we have
heen under the most despotic and
tyrannical rulings of a tyrant speaker
of the house that any government
was ever cursed with, and for the
last seven years the power of the
speaker has heen increased until he
became dictator, and the people's rep
resentatives had little to say or to
what should be enacted into law. Un
til the people throw this Caesarism
overboard and restore and make the
house the popular branch of govern
ment again then, and only then, can
they think of getting what they want.
Then with the initiative and refer
endum and recall they will be able
to get the greatest good to all and
special favors to none. Then we will
have democratic government in truth
and not a mere sham.
the people's enemies. As a nation
our Intelligence upon these problema
is swiftly advancing. This fact is
typified by The. Commoner in. its ad
vocacy of the initiative, referendum
and recall. Spme four billion news
papers circulate per year carrying a
vast amount, of intelligence along
these lines. Illustrations of a peace
ful political revolution such as that
of Los Angeles (the recall of
the mayor), and the recent, change
of front in Denver, are signs
of a growing intelligence among the
people, and with this greater intelli
gence must come that intelligent in
stead' of Ignorant rulership of the
people by which the millionaires'
power in legislation becomes less,
and a just apprehension, of the needs
of the people becomes the paramount
consideration of government.
Whin Wnnilerful New library contains eight bnnilHomc volumes, beau
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Address THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Nebraska
G. Soule, Los Angeles, Cal. The
reason the people do not rule, there
fore do not get what they want, is
due to their own inactivity. I am
more grateful to you than I am ahle
to express, for the invitation you have
I
who stand for the people, instead of
special interests, and I more than
appreciate the good' work: of The
Commoner In championing this cause.
I assure you that I am with, you and
trust that the democrats of the next
congress and senate will be found
loyally standing on the platform. I
am an ardent follower and admirer
of V. J. Bryan, who has and is stilL
doing so much for the people's cause.
I class him as man's greatest disciple,
the champion of champions, and I
am not the only democrat and am
safe to say republican who class him
as such.
offered me to co-operate with you
in the matter of obtaining candidates! I believe this is acknowledged as to
Harry A Mumper, -Mechanicsburg,
Pa. Probably there is no reason so
potent why the people do not get
what they want as the very evident
reason that they do not try to realize
that idea of government which is th.e
implantation of our conceptions of
liberty and duty. The true man has
always found that the first principle
of duty Is the satisfaction of the will
with regard to that duty; and that
he who wllls the duty and fails of
fulfilling that will is lacking in what
is commonly termed moral courage.
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F. W. Moore, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Abraham Lincoln, in his first inaugu
ral address, said: "In your hands,
my dissatisfied fellow countrymen,
and not mine, is the momentous issue
of civil war." When it is remem
bered that Lincoln would be dictator
in case of war, that he had already
been elected by the votes of the peo
ple, and therefore he was already
their ruler, it is very clear that he
considered the people to be the real
rulers, and. that he expected dicta
tion from them. This is an example
from the very best of leaders or
rulers. Napoleon, whom many re
gard as the very worst of rulers,
said: I have always marched with
the opinion of great masses and with
events." Here again it is perfectly
evident that Napoleon regarded the
people as the real rulers. The mere
fact that people don't get what they
want is no proof that they do not
rule.. People are imperfect; why
should they expect perfection in gov-
omnium. ; iuvcijf mu.n vyuuiu xm u.
competency for himself, but how mis
erably he often goes about obtaining
it. Many people are ignorant, and
it is natural that their ignorance
should find expression in government.
It requires leisure, intelligence and
considerable -mental training to un
derstand hdwthe individual is posi
tively affected by governmental reg
ulations, methods and laws. Under
these circumstances, people may, and
often do, vote for their worst, ene
mies, and it is more than probable
that theso worst enemies are often
unaware of the. fact, that they a,re
jthe individual; how is it as to the
commonwealth? We as a people,
might fairly regard ourselves in the
mass as a fellow world (to para
phrase Hugo Munsterberg) ; and
while it is true that the fellow world
is not 'the same .as- the inner con
sciousness, -yet it;; is-true that the
principles. iand valu.es. .'. applicable to
one apply with no less force to the
other, else It would cease to be fellow-world
and fellowship would be
lost in a mass of, animal-like mo
mentary sensations, without' value.
And the principle might he extended
to include the question at issue upon
both its sides. First, "If the people
rule," it must be evident, that the
rule they bear can be no other than '
the agreement which they reach
among themselves in the realm of
our unquestioned freedom, and that
the limits of the possibility for good
under such rule are boundless, while
the limitations placed upon their
freedom by the people themselves
are only such as their agreemen val
idates. Therefore, it stands to rea
son that if the people have fail6d
of attaining what they would the
cause lies in the lack of agreement
amongst themselves upon principles
valid for all men and for all time,
and the satisfaction of a definite will
which is the realization of the idea of
the good, the beautiful, the true, the
absolute; limited only by the modes
prescribed by our 'constitution and
the negative principle therein pre
scribed of the nullity of religious
controversy. It is barely possible
that some greater principle will be
tenunciated by our generation and the
generations to follow, as, for in
stance, the nullifying of financial
controversy as condition of growth
and achievement; but it is certain
that all true growth and becoming
find their truest and best and sole
value in the conscious effort of men
unto the performance of a realized
ideal, and tlfis is true Tegardless of
the modes or forms of government
under which the effort is put forth;
and the worth'lessness of their forms
and modes, if confuted as ends, is as
true today as it was in the days of
Israel's backslidiner. The world is a
I deed;, it. never lias .beeiL.and can not
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