Show WHAT IT REVEALS At beat a republican form of government govern-ment is as yet only an experiment Of course there are republican and republican re-publican governments but it is commonly com-monly conceded that ours is the most complete and more closely represents the idea of a government by the people than any other republic of either ancient an-cient or modern daB A government is good or bad a success or a failure in exact ratio with its effectiveness with the protection it affords to all interests in-terests the degree of order it maintains main-tains and the chances of happiness it secures for its citizenship as well as for its ability to defend and maintain itself it-self against foreign foes This government govern-ment for one hundred years has been measurably successful on all counts It has demonstrated that with its people peo-ple united it is able to contend with any one single political power of earth or indeea all of them What it would be able to do now in this way remains to be seen We fear that we now hava a division in our ranks which not healed speedily will weaken ue t J the extent of one half of our force The contest between labor and capita has begun Where it is to end or hem 10 man can see It is folly in se of a foreign war to expect ex-pect the tv Hstile influences to act together ainst common foe one or the other would ally itself with the foreigner in virinly That would mean the donuia1 of our boasted re publicthe b olute subjugation of the i country That monarchical EuropetwoulI Lince in glee over such an event none who havebeen observing observ-ing the signs of the times can deny In this vast labor movement the crucial test is being applied to our republic re-public The first thing we note is that the domestic military organizations of the states being too close to the citizen in sympathy and in interests is not tobe relied upon Disorder destruction de-struction and anarchy would weep bveflheland from one ocean to the other long before the federal authority would be able to organize the federal military establishment on any basis at all equal to the restoration of order Thepatient would expire Ions ere the physican was in possession of the remedy Intimes of tumult revolution revolu-tion and disorder the only effective remedy is the mailed hand of the government In case of a revolution now on the basis we have named the meagre 25000 men ot which our army is composed would be swept before the stormbefore the goverment could possibly pos-sibly put itself in shape to grapple with either combatant The indications are plain This defect in our policy must be at once repaired the army increased and kept at the point of entire efficiency effi-ciency in peace as well as war A few years since this suggestion would have been received with horror But we had peace Among our own people then Now we have war and the whole character char-acter of our population is changed Our governmental policy will have to be changed to suit the present status of the vital powers of the people We have no more time to hunt for the causesof the present condition of the people or to attempt to saddle this or that political party with the blame of inaugurating the conditions from which these evils haye sprung We confront today a condition indeed and we must act promptly or soon there will be nothingjleft worthjdefending The idea of a stronger government is not a pleasant one for an ardent democrat dem-ocrat to entertain but law of any kind is superior to anarchy strong government better than no government govern-ment at all We may well distrust our institutions when such a matter as the refusal of eight or ten thousand of Pullman operatives to work for the ueual wage throws the whole business of the government govern-ment as well as the commerce and business of all kinds xjf a great nation completely out of joint ana fills the land with strife bloodshed and unrest un-rest Jthere seems no remedy for these disorders avejin placing the railroads and telegraph lines in the hands of the government so that it may be called treason when any one seriously interferes inter-feres with their operation If this were done we would have a strong government gov-ernment at once and then a long last farewell to republican forms at least until the people have thoroughly learned to govern themselves which I they as yethave not done There is a lesson here We must soon study it |