Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume], November 11, 1916, Image 1

About Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1902-1919

Image provided by: University of Utah, Marriott Library

                
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Vol. 27 SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, NOVEMBER II, 1916 No. -ia?t H
The Ballot
IT is a magnificent spectacle to see the voting
strength of one hundred millions of free people
on a cprtain day turn aside and register a decree
which is to govern a great nation for lour years
to come. Could one from a celestial aeroplane
watch the panorama below as the picture began
at dawn to take form by the white cliffs of Maine
- and moving westward "following the sun and
keeping company with the hours" until the
shadows come in from the western ocean and
shuts out the picture, he would say: "Surely the
voice of the people is the voice of God."
If all were intelligent, all kindred by sincere
patriotism; if the thought in every soul was,, "the
very best possible must -be done for our coun
try to insure no cause for complaint; the best
for rich and poor, for the lowly and the high
alike; it would be a certificate of chaarcter to
the nation which would awe mankind.
I To think that little pieces of paper can be so
I directed that they in the aggregate are more pow
erful than the mightiest army that was ever mar
shalled; that they in truth become the arbiters
of a nation's immediate destiny and give direc
tion to events that may punctuate history for a
thousand years; is a most impressive thought, an ,
5 one is saddened by the knowledge that not half
of those to "whom it is given realize its full sig
nificance or what may he the result of their use
of the mighty privilege.
The comfort is that God is watching ana that
through that ballot is a favorite way for Him to
I work, and that the decrees entered by them may
'be His decrees.
I It takes on new sanctity as we look across
the sea and note the destruction going on there,
and instinctively know that could the same means
be resorted to there to decide whether the de
vastation go on, or a halt be called and an appeal
to reason be submitted, a calm would come at
once and Europe would begin to bind up her
wounds.
This fact is so manifest that those who are
directing the carnage and heaping up the desola
tion, ought to be thinking of it and asking them
selves how long before the people at home may
arise and demand it.
But the two pictures, the one of the millions
struggling in a deathlock 'bringing before un-
heard of instruments of death to bear to increase
the carnage, through the lust of murder that has
. come down through the wild beast instinct that
fe, still finds its germs in the souls of men; and the
? spectacle on our side where the ballot has been
substituted for the sword, and through which the
will of the people find expression, is the most im
pressive spectacle of this year.
And the highest duty of true men and women
in our land is to work constantly to fit our own
people to so appreciate their duty that before
very long no one will dare to lay a soiled hand
upon the ballot, but will hold its use as a priv
ilege so sacred and so high that the hand that
touches it must do it to give expression to a
. soul consecrated to duty and made holy by the
fervor of its patriotism.
i
After Election
THE campaign has passed. Men are turning
back to the calm of every-day life, and won
dering that they could get so excited over the
result of a presidential election.
Still, the theory on which our government Is
founded, is that the government must represent
the will of all the people as expressed through
their votes, and that those votes are the only
safeguard of the country short of war.
How sacred should that ballot be; now pro
found should ibe the gratitude of those who are
permitted to wield it; how men should struggle
to bo worthy to exercise that privilege.
And when we think that the privilege is ex
tended to millions who have not sought to ob
tain any knowledge to guide them; of the other
millions who hold it merely as merchandise and
are ready to barter it for a petty consideration; of
the others who never thought it should be the
very highest expression of a true citizen's patri
otism and intelligence, we would almost despair
except that there is an inherent sanctity about
it, and when the full will of the people is ex
pressed through the- ballot, it seems to be the will
of God.
iSometimes thoughtful people cannot shake off
the impression that, after all, men are not ex
alted beings, a little lower than the angels, tout
that they represent while here, a sort of
Punch and Judy show, to dance as the string is
pulled by the unseen hands that set the stage,
the unheard voices that call the acts in the guid
ance of nation's tragedies and comedies, and that
nations like men are only born to run their
courses and then fall back to dust.
Thoughtful men sometimes deplore the fact
that many ignorant people are given the ballot.
But an education does not give a man the in
spiration to vote right.
Our belief is that a school of patriotism is
what is most needed in the United States.
Military training in our schools should make
part of the kindergarten course. More time in
schools and in the homes should he devoted to
supplying, in easy lessons, a knowledge of our
institutions and the difference between them and
other lands; in explaining the progress that has
come from them in so brief a time; what our flag
really represents; the majesty that attaches to
it and why it should be reverenced as no flag ever
was 'before.
We sometimes think that a righteous war is
not a bad device tcf sweep away the "cankers of a
long peace," and force men to comprehend how
much native land is to them and why their very
highest duty is to guard it with a jealous love al
ways on the alert to protect it.
At the same time the most discouraging fact
of all time is the war in Europe. A dozen en
lightened nations are killing their people by thou
sands every day, and there is not intelligence and
patriotism enough in them all to call a halt and
permit reason to assume its rule.
And all but one claim to be Christian nations,
and their frenzy seems to be just as fierce and
cruel and unreasoning as though the cross had
not been shining down upon them for nineteen ;, H
hundred years. It shakes the faith and saddens i H
the heart to watch them. 1 H
The Local Result M
HP HE Democracy of Utah must not claim too Vfl
much credit for their -victory; the Republi- H
cans committed hari kiri in their nominating 'y H
convention. The contest there was not the usual H
one of good men struggling for the mastery, but H
all the time ready to accept the result with all H
good will. What the convention really did was a ' ftwJ
in effect to reward one who, but a little while ' i PAj
ago, was doing his utmost to disrupt and de- i H
stroy the Republican party and at the same time fl
turned down one who in office had abundantly
shown his courage and devotion to duty under a BWJ
most trying ordeal. Hence the work of the con- i BB
vention was in truth to demand of Republicans BB
to sacrifice their individual self-respect and at IbbI
the same time to help give Utah a reputation "dBJ
for supreme ingratitude and a disposition to L iBbI
cater to the yellow streak in human nature. r, BB
Further to give a sinister organization which BB
has over and over established that it is an ' J&bI
avowed enemy of order, law and liberty, under w& , ' ;BA
the law, notice that the people of Utah have Wfc -lBB
not courage and self-respect enough to endorse l '3Bl
an officer who dared, in the discharge of his sworn JL y
duties, to defy the malicous threats of these en- Jfo .' H
emies of this country and its righteous laws. H
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This caused the revolt of multitudes of true BB
Republicans and benumbed a multitude more so , B
that they made but a half-hearted campaign from B
the beginning. H
Under such circumstances the only regret is i '
that a few tried and splendid men who have l BB
abundantly established their claim to the full con-'' . B
fidence of the people, have been defeated.
The Democrats should not exult too much. H
They did not win a Democratic victory; the Re- , H
publican nominating convention made it incum- ' j.v
bent upon all true men to stultify themselves, if, ; H H
they voted their ticket. V ' ,,t ' j 'M
P. S. And still there is a most suspicious look H
about it all. The cry that Utah is now really v pH
free is too vociferous and loud; the majority is .lj3
too tremendous. Considering the treatment ac- H
corded the saints in Mexico, and the president's, BJ9
indifference to it, considering Utah's greatest ag- i j BB
ricultural industry, there must have been counsel, H
We wager a year's subscription to the Weekly t . 'JjVaJ
that the law placing sugar on the free list will Tfl
be suspended for four years more. , ftTJ
What Did It? (
THE controling factor in the late campaign BB
was the marvelous prosperity which has iMVJ
come through the war in Europe. The Chesa- JBbI
peake bay fishermen are credited for changing 1
their votes in one campaign because the fish were 1
not biting well that year. The discernment has 9B
caused many Democrats in the past four months jfiS!
to call the present prosperity "Democratic pros- H
perity." i jH
It may not be out of place just ais time to driHB
ask how much of that prosperity has come from
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