DUTY OF CITIZENS

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 56, 8 March 1919, Page 10

DUTY OF CITIZENS

"If there is a sincere desife to make the world, and its nations, cities, and towns, safe for democracy,' there must be co-operation on the- part of ijvery man, woman, and child," said a Boston public official, recently. •'■ "In, other words, the individual must recognise his or her .responsibility by promptly submitting' grievances to the attention of the authorities.'

"Many persons are far more willing to air their opinions and shout their complaints into tho ears of their next-door neighbours,. than to take a few minutes'time in taking them to those authorities who have the power to deal with them. The negligence of a public official, the discourtesy of a street car conductor, the lawlessness of gangs of young men, tho boisterous shouts and inconsiderate actions of boy 3 and girls, are-allowed to pass, perhaps with some contention, but in nearly every case without action.

"National and State Legislatures have enacted numerous laws for the benefit of the people! and for the preservation Of peace and harmony, but these laws become so much waste paper if individuals rooklessly disregard them, and in a degree become anarchists and Bolsheviks. And these disturbers of the peace will grow in numbers if the individual does not, recognise "his own responsibility, and point out infractions to iho attention of tho officials delegated to enforce the laws.

"The oommittees on publio safety established during the war by many of tho States dealt with hundreds of infractions of their regulations with rigidr hand, and it is to be hoped that their work of rectifying abuses, principally in food and commodity prices, will be continued by some other authority."