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Show READERS OPINIONS (The opinions expressed in this column arethose of the writers, and are not necessarily concurred in by the editor and management of this paper.) WHO CAUSED "APOSTACY" FROM DEMOCRACY? Dorothy Thompson, under date of March 31 194 1, gives an account of the rise of the menace of plutocr icy. To quote In eiuhteenth centuiy America, the leadership of this country was in the hands of preachers, scholars and soldiers Whatever their limitations they had a strict moral sense of individual and social responsibility. They did not worship the "bitch goddess" success. (The words of William James.) They led austere lives, set standards of culture and behavior and established the morale of American life. Nineteenth century America saw the rise of a plutocracy and the transfer of leadership to an oligarchy of wealth. The degeneration of moral standards began at once. The Testimony of Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln, the man of vision, forsaid the rise of the menace to democracy in the concentration of great econnmie power. "I see in the near future a crisis arising which unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. The money power of the country will endeavor to prolong iU reign by working upon the prejudice of the people until all the wealth isaggregatod in a few hands mid thr- repub ic destroyed. I feel at this time more anxious fo my country than even in the midst of war," To be Continued |