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GEORGE W. BERdE, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER
Volume 18
Lincoln, Nebraska, December 21, 1905
Number 31
Christmas and the Democratic Spirit
. The spirit of Christianity is the spirit of democracy. When
the Carpenter of Nazareth gave men the Golden Rule he gave them
the basic principle of democracy. Ho said: "Do unto others as you
would have that they should do unto you," and ho told His followers
that they should know the truth and it would make them free.
No man is free to do as he pleases. True freedom is expressed
perfectly by the Golden Rule. A man's rights are limited by the
rights of his neighbors, and he should respect their rights ; as ho
would have them respect his. When the spirit of democracy evolves -the
principle, "equal rights for all, special privileges for none," it
is merely stating in different terms the divine philosophy of the
Golden Rule. 1
All freedom is founded on and limited by the duty of man to
serve his fellow men. Only the beasts of the field are free to do as
they wish. They may treat one another kindly, they may be in
different, or they may trample upon one another and be held to no
accountability, but men must serve and to serve they must sacrifice.
The men who have served their fellow men best are theywho in the
tide of time have sacrificed the most. The men who have served their
fellow men the least are they whose conduct has been guided by selfish
ness. When we harm our fellow men we do not always do it selfishly,
and when we serve them we do not always sacrifice, but the greatest
good is wrought by self-sacrifice and the greatest evil by selfishness.
The Golden Rule expresses a social ideal. The nearer " it is
approached by society as a whole the happier and freer are the mass
of men. The rich man has no right to use his wealth as he pleases.
He is not si' re that he has earned all his wealth, nor that he
deserves it all. Of one thing he is sure: that the laws of society
and the good will and justice of his fellow men have made it
possible for him to gain and to keep his wealth. It is, therefore, his
duty to use it for the benefit of his fellow men. He must not demand
special privileges for himself, but should strive that each man may
have equal opportunity within the range of power God has given
hiin. Only in this way can he serve his fellow men rightly. That
is the spirit of Christianity, and it is the spirit of democracy. Nor
has the toiler a right to do as he pleases. Ho too must serve his
fellow men. He has no right to idle when it pleases hirn and to
work when he will. He must give the best that is in him for the
service of all. ' .
All men should desire a reign of justice. Perfect justice would
produce an ideal economic condition. The greatest political economists
have recognized this truth. That winch is right for tlie individual
to do is the best for all. It is a glorious and a mighty truth, but
for ages it has been obscured by the selfishness of men and will never
be fully esteemed and rightly prized until the Golden : Rule has
become the rule in the world of trade.
There is more' to Christianity than there is to democracy.
Christianity is for a world at war, and to man it offers an eternal
reward. It brings "peace on earth to nien of good will," but it has
a teaching higher than the teaching of justice. Christianity not only
teaches men to deal fairly with one another, biTTit teaches them to
forgive those avIio have dealt unfairly. Democracy teaches justice,
while Christianity teaches justice and charity. So far as we know
at this day the precept "forgive your enemies" is not an economic
rule, but fair dealing is and so, too, is the spirit of sacrifice. The
reward of fair dealing and of sacrifice is a better" economic state;
the reward of those who forgive their enemies is an eternal reward.
At Christmas time the spirit of peace and good will should
prompt all who love their fellow men to remember that fair dealing
is necessary every day in the year. The. Golden Rule was not made
for Christmas day, nor for Christraastide. It was made for. all
men and for all time. If all men dealt fairly with one another there
would be no wars, political or commercial, and that is the true sig-
nificance of the Golden Rule and its corollary, "Peace onarth to men
of good will."
Sounding Knell of Railway Rule
That the people of Nebraska are awakening at last to a full
realization of railway perfidy is indicated by the action of Richard
son county taxpayers, who, in mass meeting assembled, denounced
the Burlington road for refusing to pay its taxes in 1001 and again
this year. The root of the evil is pointed out in a resolution which
condemns the issuance of federal injunctions prohibiting the coun
ties from enforcing collection of taxes. Another resolution favors
the La Follette idea that corporations should Iks compelled, like indi
viduals, to pay taxes when duo or suffer attachment of their property.
"If taxes are paid wrongfully, let the controversy be settled after
wards and over-charges refunded as any comjotont court may seo
fit to order," says litis resolution.
It may l of interest to note that the Wisconsin assembly has
parsed a bill providing that should a local rate of general property
taxation bo found higher than the constitutional limit ami there
fore void, that facv should not invalidate the ad valorem railroad
assessment. The assembly has under eon si deration a bill to require
railway eorjoration to pay their assessed taxes in full I !, re bring
ing any action in court to contest the assessment, and allowing them
to recover in the event that the nssesAitiunt Ik ' uleiently declared
Void by the court.
It U apparent that there can le no effective regulation of nuV
ways until they are forced to obey the law first and to litigate after
wards. President Roosevelt's plan of rate regulation is weak in that
it can be overridden by federal injunctions. And yet the president
goes out of his Way to defend the principle of court injunctions
and to protest against any drastic modification of this power. Gov
ernment by injunction is replacing government by the people. Thb
judiehl branch is Usurping the powers of the executive branch
through the medium of a prerogative, which, like modern finance,
has developed abuses out of all proportion to its uses. The evolu
tion of the federal injunction has been distinctly baneful. In theory
the injunction has many excellent uses, but in practice it is rarely
employed to prevent injustice to the individual or harm to his prop
erty. It is more frequently used to tyrannize over the individual
and to protect the property stolen by corporations or property with
held by corporations from rightful owners, as, for example, in the
cases where railways refuse to pay their just taxes and are enabled
by federal injunctions to withhold money that rightly Udongs to the
jHHiple.
The citizens f Richardson county struck the keynote of the
coming campaign when they recommended that no man le nominated
from that county next fall for the legislature by any political party
who U not know to bo absolutely free from all railroad intluccivj.