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THE ATLANTIAN
SUTTLER
GOVERNMENT.
By Bernard Suttler.
Government is not a machine devised
for the purpose of giving people occu
pation by providing the oil to keep it
running, or the repairs to prevent it go
ing to wreck, and yet this is the sincere
belief of many people.
Government is not a Juggernaut de
vised by a cunning priesthood and de
manding blood as its most acceptable
sacrifice, and yet this is the sincere be
lief of many people.
Government is a tool invented to en
able people to exercise their communal
rights in peace and security and to en
joy the fruits of their labors without
paying toll to any person or persons
whatever.
As this tool belongs to all the people,
for the benefit of all the people, it fol
lows that it should be used by all the
people and that all the people have the
right to change the shape of the tool
whenever conditions call for a change.
But, it has been found impossible owing
to the infinite variety of the human mind,
and the impossibility of securing unani
mity that the use of the governmental
tool is possible only through majorities,
and this government by majorities is a
distinctive feature of what wo call De
mocratic or Republican government.
Therefore, when we have a govern
ment by minorities, whether it take the
form of absolutism as in Russia, mili
tarism as in Germany, or plutocratic
privilege as in Great Britain and the
United States, it is not Democratic gov
ernment however much we may so pro
claim it.
The essential feature of Democratic
•government is the lawfully expressed
will of the majority of all the people.
Anything that hinders this expression,
whether it be the will of a despot, or
tho maclinations of a political coterie
seeking personal advantage is treason to
Democracy and the men practicing this
treason are traitors to the people.
No thoughtful and honest man can
deny the foregoing statements for they
are in the nature of axiomatic truth,
but there are many more with what we
call the conservative temperatment who
distrust the ability of all the people to
use the governmental tool and these men
have been powerful enough during all
recorded history to control the use of
this tool we know as government.
But men learn only by practice, the
man who is denied the use of a plane
will never learn to smooth a board, and
the people will learn the use of the gov
ernmental tool only by using it. The
conservative would deny to the people
the use of the tool, and then claim that
the people are unfit because they do not
understand its use.
This has been the method for several
thousands of years, but it can not al
ways endure. For men are learning,
slowly it maybe, but surely. We are
now for the first time in history begin-
ing to grasp the fundamental truth that
in a righteous government no man is
entitled to any special rights or privi
leges for any reason whatesoever.
We are beginning to learn that what
we know as vested rights are in far too
many cases founded on ancient and time
honored wrongs.
We are beginning to understand that
every citizen has equal rights and owes
equal duty. A correct conception of
Democracy is gaining ground, but the
practical application of correct princi
ples will involve a long and arduous
struggle for the forces of conservatism
and privilege die hard. Die they must
if civilization is to endure, to say noth
ing of rising to higher levels.
In this struggle there can be no neu
trality, every good citizen, every patriot,
must live up on the side of truth, justice,
and righteous government; the man who
fails to do this is an enemy to his race
who for the sake of some paltry personal
advantage is willing to perpetuate the
crimes and follies which have blackened
the pages of history with human misery
and crimsoned them with human blood.
THAT WAS ONE, SURELY.
(From the Chicago Record-Herald)
“Don’t tell me that there are no such
things as miracles nowadays.”
“Show me one and I’ll believe that
there may still be such things.”
“I saw one yesterday. Four musical
experts were sitting at a table in a club
to which I belong and they agreed in
their opinion of Wagner.”
ENOUGH SAID.
Teacher: “This composition is very
dirty Sammy.”
Sammy: “Well, it covers the ground,
anyway.”
ANOTHER MATTER.
Mother—“There now, don’t whip
Johnny. You know the Bible says: ‘Let
not the sun descend upon your wrath. ’ ’ ’
Father—“That’s all right; but it
doesn’t say not to let your wrath de
scend upon the son.”
REQUIREMENT OF COOKS.
The woman’s demand for a cook who
could stand the heat was perfectly rea
sonable, but it threw the employment
agent into an argumentative mood.
“What difference does that make
now!” he said. “Summer is over.
There won't be any heat for her to
stand. ’ ’
“Oh, yes, there will be over my coal
range,” said the woman. “There are
a lot of dishes that a girl who is sus
ceptible to heat never can cook as well
as one who is not. Hot breads belong
in that class. They require a hot oven,
and the girl who feels the heat doesn’t
get it hot enough. She is at the roasting
point herself and imagines the oven is
in the same condition when it lacks sev
eral degree of the required temperature.
Using herself for a thermometer, that
same girl will begin to bake griddle
cakes before the fire is hot enough and
spoil half the batch.”
In the Fourth
National’s Savings
Department
You can have the advantage of a very convenient,
well-planned and accommodating service.
You can open an account with a small sum if you
wish. You can draw or compound the interest every
six months.
You can do business with the Savings Department
every banking day until six o’clock in the afternoon.
You can have the knowledge that your account
is carried with one of the strongest banks in the
South—a bank whose total resources are over eight
millions—a bank that, in addition to the supervision
exercised by the United States Government, main
tains a system of individual audits. This system
requires a full count of all the bank’s cash once a
month, and thorough examination at frequent in
tervals.
Come in and let us talk the matter over with you.
Be assured that your account will be welcomed
no matter what size it may be.
Fourth National
Bank