The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1891-01-23
band. Gov. Taylor introduced Gov
Buchanan, who thus spoke:
The Inaugural Address.

In conformity with established usage,
i appear before this, the Forty-seventh
General Assembly, to assume officially
the high trust with which l have been
clothed by the sovereign will of the peo-
pie of this commonwealth. To you as
her lawgivers, and to me as the execu-
tive of these laws, the interests of the
State of Tennessee have been entrusted
for the ensuing two years. The power
of the executive is limited by the law as
he finds it. Your action can have the
force of the law only in so far as it gives
expression to the popular will. We to-
gether are but servants vested with the
authority only to express and execute
within constitutional limits the peoples
will. 1t is the duty of each Representa-
tive to give voice to the needs and de-
sires of his constituency, and all should
harmoniously take counsel together for
the greatest good to the whole State.
THE PRINCIPLES THAT FORM
the basis of our American theory of gov
ernment are that all men are equal be-
fore the law, and that power and rule
belong of right to majority. The first
principle of civil liberty recognizes the
superior right of no individual and no
class, and affirms that there is no one
who, by inherent right, ought to rule.
1t therefore declares that the people
ought to rule, in contradiction to aut =
cracy, aristocracy or plutocracy. Hen Q
the lawgiver and executive, after briet
tenure of Office, return to the bosom of
the people from whence they have come.
This system accomplishes more nearly
than any other yet tried by man the
main object of all government = the
good of those governed. Yet it has
fallen into grave and serious errors; it
hac iola 4o1 he 10 - y oil
ity of all men before the law, by the un-
due protection of favored class; it has
made dangerous strides toward pluto
cracy by submission to the power of ag-
gregated money; it has centralized
power until
IT THREATENS THE DESTRUCTION
Of popular government and the rights
of the States to local self-government
1t has by these errors foStered monopoly
until it has placed itself within the
merciless grasp of the relentless tyrant
One of the great wonders of our Ameri-
can system is that we have built up the
greatest nation on earth, and left our
self-government intact. This has been
accomplished by allowing township,
county and city local government under
the authority of the sovereign States,
and by allowing the States local govern
ment within constitutional limits under
the Federal Union. This is the germ
of the American system, and most jeal-
ously should it be guarded. Such a
government succeeds more nearly than
any other in engaging all its citizens
actively in the management of public
affairs, and thereby engenders a spirit
of patriotism, brings about universal
acquaintance with political affairs and
economic questions, such as has never
before been seen in any great country.
Public policy should seek to nourish
this spirit in
THE MASSES OF THE PEOPLE.
While the State possesses elements of
sovereignty, it exercises these rights
without unduly restricting the local
government of township and county 1t
should exercise sufficient supervision to
harmonize the workings of these local
administrations, preserving at the same
time uniformity in local enactments.
While some'of our State laws may be
defective, Tennessee has, on the whole,
good code of laws. If any law fails to
accomplish the end sought, or fails to
protect or punish all alike, it fails in its
proper mission. If there is any law op
pressive to any class of citizens, or op-
pressive to any interest of the State, or
that hinders its material advancement,
such law should be Changed. But
changes in an established law should
not be made without great care and
without a positive demand for public
good. 1t has been the earnest desire
and purpose of State legislation
TO PROMOTE ALI. THE INTERESTS
of the State inasmuch as lay in its power
to accomplish that end, but ever chang
ing conditions and new developments
give rise to new emergencies that re-
Quire new laws. These should be wise
and simple, uniform and just. Only such
laws as the State needs should be
enacted. AS much harm may accrue
from overwhelming a statute-book with
laws involving distinctions without diff
terences as from lack of legislation.
The Jeffersonian non-interference the
ory of government is the wisest, leaving
people to be happy in their own way
without undertaking to do for them
what they can do better for themselves.
The weakness of State Governments
does not arise so much from the inefi-
ciency of law as from the inefficiency of
execution of the law. To enforce order,
the execution of law should be firm and
just, the penalty for its violation should |
be prompt and certain; its protection of |
the life, liberty and safety of citizens
should
BE MOST SECURELY GUARANTEED.
1t comes within the province of gov
ernment not only to make laws and ex-
ecute them, but to encourage the devel-
opment of the material resources of the |
State. Tennessee's material interests |
are great and varied. She has perhaps |
as great diversity of interests as any
State in the Union. Nature has liber- |
ally endowed her with her best gifts. |
With provident care she has locked up |
almost inexhaustible supplies of coal |
and marble and mineral wealth in that |
great storehouSe, the eastern noun |
tains; she has girdled the western linn
its by a great highway of commerce, |
with It's low-lying, fertile valleys; she |
has gracefully fashioned in table land |
and plain, hill and dale, the undulating |
middle section; she has encircled it by |
the arms of navigable streams; she has |
given a climate that possesses the in |
cold of the North tempered |
by the balminess of the South; she has |
planted in her bosom stately forests of |
the most valuable woods; she
HAS BESTOWED A FERTILE SOIL
adapted to great variety of products, |
and has made it the home of the finest
oattle and horses the world has ever !
seen. /
The development of all these natural
resources by agriculture, by mining and
by manufactures is of chief concern to
the people. Our facilities and advan-
tages for manufacturing are second to
none, and there is no more promi ising
field in the South open to the energy
and enterprise of her sons The great