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There are insidious forces continually opposing Coöperaauthority and threatening our rights, privileges, and liberty by establishing precedents not in conformity Enforcewith the spirit of our Constitution. This challenge ment. to authority must be met with fearlessness by men and women who as boys and girls respected the authority of the home, the school, and the church. An increased number of laws do not necessarily develop a law-abiding spirit. In fact, fewer laws rigidly enforced are productive of better results. The spirit of escaping punishment through the services of skillful lawyers, leniency of judges, or political influence is not the spirit of the true American citizen, but it is the spirit that will surely break down constitutional government.

A great obligation rests on us because the success or failure of representative government, regarded as the hope of other nations of the world, depends largely upon the manner in which we preserve our Constitution.

A few statistics should incite every young man and woman to do his or her part as a citizen to curb the breakdown in respect for the laws that insure protection of life, liberty, and property. In 1912 our Federal Court with its limited jurisdiction considered 9503 criminal indictments; last year this number increased to over 80,000.

Casualty companies report that losses paid for burglary alone had grown from $886,000 to over $10,000,000 in the last six years.

In one large city alone five thousand automobiles

were stolen in a single year. Burglaries have increased 1200 per cent in number in the last decade. Why? Because the serious obstacle in law enforcement arises from the attitude of law-abiding citizens. When called to aid in the enforcement of the law many citizens are not conscientious regarding the means they use to escape their duty.

Sympathy for the accused, newspaper publicity, and disregard for the rights of citizens who are lawabiding engender further lawlessness. The Constitution provides, "In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right of speedy trial." Few criminals to-day "enjoy" this privilege as the makers of the Constitution intended. Yet it is a wellknown fact that delay is not for public benefit and is an additional expense to law-abiding citizens.

We spend approximately six times as much for crime as we do on the education of all the children in all of the public schools in the United States. Rigidly enforcing the law and reversing the ratio of expenditure so that six times as much is spent for constructive citizenship as is spent for crime should undoubtedly contribute to the general welfare. Not a single clause of the Constitution directly defines the duties of citizens. The document is a summary of the rights of citizenship. For our own welfare we have learned that the rights of one's property impose the duty of protecting the property of others; that the right to pursue happiness deserves the duty of insuring the happiness of others; that the right of freedom enjoins us to pre

serve that freedom and the freedom of others by using our influence to punish those who are not lawabiding. "Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set" is a challenge to the next generation not only to oppose revolts against authority and carelessness in law making but also to use every influence to coöperate in rigid enforcement of the laws which protect us.

Conscious

ness.

In some of his letters Theodore Roosevelt tells Political of his first experiences in ward politics. "None but the roughs and professional politicians go there; our people do not mix in these affairs," said his friends when he announced that he was going to a political meeting. "Then," said Roosevelt, “you do not belong to the governing class in this country. So far as I am concerned I intend to belong to the governing class." The life story of this remarkable American is a challenge to every American citizen who is determined to exercise the privileges of his birthright. This spirit of "letting the politicians do it" surely is a dangerous one, because it is a step toward a dictatorship either of an aristocracy or of the proletariat.

Almost half of our citizens eligible to vote fail to go to the polls on election day. About 50 per cent of the electorate voted before women were enfranchised and about 50 per cent of the electorate has voted since women were given the privilege. In 1896, 80 per cent of the qualified citizens voted in the presidential election; in 1900, 73 per cent; in 1912, 62 per cent; in 1920, 49 per cent; in 1924,

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52.8 per cent. The potential voting strength of the United States is now about fifty-seven millions, and the vote of approximately thirty millions cast in 1924 allows a bare majority to rule. In one state only eight per cent of the voters went to the polls in the presidential election of 1924.

When voters say, "My one vote will not affect the result," tell them that twelve times out of thirtyfour a president has been elected by a minority of the popular vote. Tell them that every time a qualified citizen refuses to vote, he loses his identity as an American citizen, and his vote may be one of the few to decide between a desirable and an undesirable administration.

There is not enough money in existence to buy the vote of a true American citizen. The privilege of the ballot is a priceless heritage not to be bartered away for favor, for friendship, or for gain. The intelligent ballot of the intelligent, patriotic voter is the very life blood of a nation such as ours. It is our duty to engage in this "game" of politics and see that no one wins by default.

Public

Service.

The real patriot, the responsible citizen, must be Habit of willing to dedicate a part of his time to the welfare of the nation which makes his success possible. In one of our large cities 380 business men were called for jury service and 379 perjured themselves out of the jury box. If justice is to come through the courts, our best citizens must obey the call to service.

A good citizen's obligation does not stop with

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