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THE
Alaska
Fisherman
VOL. 4 NO. 7
JUNE, 1927
20c. PER COPY
THE REPUBLICAN DOCTRINE
“No method of procedure has ever been devised by which liberty
could be divorced from self-government. No plan of centralization
has ever been adopted which did not result in bureaucracy, tyranny,
inflexibility, reaction, and decline. Of all forms of government those
administered by bureaus are about the least satisfactory to an enlight
ened and progressive people. Being irresponsible they become auto
cratic, and being autocratic they resist all development. Unless bu
reaucracy is constantly resisted it breaks down representative govern
ment and overwhelms democracy. Tt. is the one element in our insti
tutions that sets up the pretense of having authority over everybody
and being responsible to nobody.
While we ought to glory in the Union and remember that it is the
source from which the states derive their chief title to fame, we must
also recognize that the national Administration is not and cannot
be adjusted to the needs of local government. It is too far away to
be informed of local needs, too inaccessible to be resopnsible to lo
cal conditions. The states should not be induced by coercion or fa
vor to surrender the management of their own affairs. The Federal
Government ought to resist the tendency to be loaded up with duties
which the states should perform. It does not follow that because
something ought to be done the national government ought to do it."
President Calvin Coolidge at Williamsburg, Virginia.