Show I I J 1 i E RULERS AND TBER OWN f f BBS t l 1 f > Ij J c i1 i < f if In deapottdm the ruler is responsible i F 1 respon-sible for bia people but in A republic i the people are responsible for their i t I I i idlers As tbe people are so will the I 1 i ruler be whom the people choose He I j will be their expression deliberately n i f i chosen cf what they consider thp rl I I ablest and most generally delightful LI t and excellent type ot human nature fl I There IB no getting rid of this responsibility 1i respon-sibility in a republic If tbe official iiJ la a thief it is because the people n who chooae him have ce particular RIt objection to a little thiev < ng If he t j is a coarse demagogue it is because I I the people like II demagogue and K coaree one It he IB a mouthing pretentious humbug it is bet ause the average citizen as he runs likes I J pretension and humbug ery That r there may be a vast number of people peo-ple who are honest who dont like tt F J demagogues nor coarse men nor p t hnmbuggery does not alter the case tI They are a part only Toe average i I 1 t tone of the average citIzen is whaf I guides the renublio where the vota 1 i of the sage is balanced by the Tote of Iq j L the loafer The corruption the J f I knavery the lack of ability honesty In and truth in the various departments j Of our complicated government machinery 1 f ma-chinery in this country are notorious 1 1 j to ourselves and to the world When ll k we find an honest official we proclaim J pro-claim him to the four winds as a 11 1 wonder He is a sort of monster f1 admirable but rare and to be caught I bat oiice in a generation We have ii fio6 had a statesman among us for a quarter of a century or so politicians r 1 politi-cians in plenty but not a statesman 4L l Can we name a public man today f I from the President down who has fl any conception of public duty beyond r helping the party at the next election I elec-tion Or one who if by any means I lJ j I he got each a conception has the u 1 J I I f slightest notion of how to realize it I That this state of things grows out of 1 L J republican institutions such as they a l j l are iej inevitable The government f i i represents the average honesty and 1 t j r ti I the average intelligence of the people t J peo-ple The stream cannot rise higher I tJ than the fountain Complaints therefore t ti there-fore and they are very common and II i L i I Mkely to become more common still t f t I rft l I i of the imbecility and knavery of our Iff I j t national state and municipal governments i Ii Us J 1 gov-ernments are revelations of the imbecility ti 1 I im-becility and knavery of the Ameri un 14 an people The Russian for such things may blame the Czar The t I Turkish subject may blame the Sal i Jan The Irish patriot has a ground i at least to bay that the poverty and fe I j misery of Ireland is due to the British Li Parliament and that the Green Isle would be a paradise of pure women 11 and honorable men if it could but r ran its own affairs in its own way Americans can say not in a M HO i r f sort The business is in our own fond Qf making our hAnds We are i I wusSi u a VI Aire world accepts our L f i estimate and judges us on our own i ground It sees our eities in the l hands of men without character the worst policed the dirtiest the most t unsafe for property and life in F i t Christendom It sees more burglaries 1 more murders more robberies and i j arsons for instance in Chicago than 1 4 i in London in New Orleans than in I I Paris It sees public plunder open 1 r notorious and unpunished It sees 4 S t unfaithfulness to every public duty il and publio trust It hears no utter 1 Ii J S ances in the bails of our capitol r I t i higher than party slaver and politicians S S politi-cians blatherskite And it concludes I S f I that all this is what the people want I I because the people put it there The t j consequences of all this are not felt I 1 jet Others have been saying republicanism t 1 repub-licanism is on trial in the United i S r Ii i States We say it has been tried and II i has succeeded Others are right tjt r i i We are wrong The trial is not over S i I It will not be over for some time 11t j i Tin oar waste lands are occupied till I j our enormous resources have been i S j discovered developed and possessed S 1 till the struggle of the mass is for J bread as it is in other lands and will S j be here finally not till then will the S i i real teat come Bat the fight the t J 1 true irrepressible conflict of all 1 times between labor and capital is S J sure to eome in America as everywhere f t I every-where And when it comes we shall t S I 5 I f know how much our democratic institutions U i in-stitutions are worth We have already S Ii i ready had some small ekirmishesand k I tl the said institutions did not show up t S any too well in the trial In any real I t l strain considering that every man f i l hasBa vote and that the getting of r 1 ti t votes is all an American statesman I t 1 r f knows anything about whatwill be I J it L the end Can any one blame the t 1 < corporations and the millionaires fort for-t 1 I f baying these statesmen and keep I Ing them on salaries when they have f 11 secured the necessary rotes to get office Ij l1 j f of-fice The time may come when it ItJ i fi will be handy to have them in the JI il r house But alsCf the buying and 4j owning them may hasten the crisis 1ft andprecipitate the need The corporations ii i f cor-porations are rapidly pressing the l ISSue |