Show PUBLIC TO BLAME that the people themselves are to blame tor bad government Is the keynote of the reform efforts of joseph W folk governor of missouri some of his pertinent utterances are if the people want good government they can have it but they must want it with an active desire and they must insist upon having it the indifference of voters is the greatest menace to a republican form of government most people are honest but they are inactively so while the vicious majority are perniciously active it is not enough to be merely honest ve need more fighters in the army of peace aggressive methods only will stamp out graft and corruption there are no necessary evils in government it is the abuses of government about which all good citizens havo a right to complain if the honest voters would assert themselves however they could have local and national government of which they could be proud good men will observe even bad laws and bad men will break even good laws all men good and bad should be compelled to obey every law good and bad because it is a law disregard of one law breeds disrespect of all law many persons thrill with patriotic fervor at the thought of risking their lives on the battlefield but they forget to vote os election day the patriotism of peace is as necessary as the patriotism of war the man who will live every day for his city and state is needed more by the government than is the man willing to die for his country the best citizen seldom goes to the primaries and often tails to vote two duties that the bad citizen never neglects and when bad men elect a bad man to office they support him loyally in the evil he does that is the chief cause of corruption in american municipalities let him who without good cause avoids his simple duty of casting a ballot be barred by law from all the privileges that flow from citizenship men appreciate something that they are in danger of losing in a word we need the honest votes of honest men when these unite and stay united demanding honesty in the conduct of public affairs then graft will become unknown i |