St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-07-17
DAVIS GRAFTON.
Thoughts on Government and
Law in Polished Language.

Advancing to the front of the platform,
and with barred head, Mr.. Davis delivered one
of the best orations ever listened TO in Min
neapoiis. 1t was elegant and polished in
diction, extremely appropriate, every line of
it. and ''meaty." His voice, though not
strong, has that peculiar ring to it which
makes of every lightest word an arrow; his
enunciation so nearly perfect that every syl-
liable falls upon the ear of the most dis tant
auditor as clearly as to the nearest Over all
that concourse Of people. stretching from
street to street. the power OF his speech
tloated and descended, in no way lessened.
He began:
We lay to-day the corner stone of this tenn
pie, dedicated by the choice of free people
TO the service of the law and municipal gov
eminent. The progress of architecture sym
bolizes the advance of civilization. Where
the forest cave the Wigwam of bOughS. the
tent of skins yield to walls of stone aud NOR
tar, there civilization has fixed soiOurnng
place and erected mile stone in its onward
march. 1t is no easy task to trace out the
fountain heads of this great river of human
progress upon whose bosoms nations float to
destinies of veal or Woe 1t is enough for us
standing upon the banks of this mighty cur
rent TO marx its usefulness and trace its re-
suits without seeking TO know its origin
The growth of cities is the marked distinc-
ton of civilizations progress. The forces
and resources OF nature utilized by man be-
come conserved wealth, capital. The appli-
cation of this capital 10 the creation of other
capital sets in motion commerce. trade. man
ufacture. The necessities which are the ad-
juncts of these activities and the results of
this aggregation of the human species, create
governments, and governments make, exc
cute, eXpound law. So rises the fabric of
municipal government and SO II becomes
the motive power Of the centuries. To-day,
assembled to witness the initial act in the
erection of this monument, 1t is wise to turn
our thoughts to the ideas it represents. An
ideal municipal government ought not to be
q Utopian dream.
Then rapidly, and in eloquent words, the
speaker went through the list OF dangers to
the ent-over-legislation; ill-consid
cred legislation at the instigation of rabid
selfsJyled refOrmers; legislation for the adj
vancement Of party, clique or faction; the
election of incompetent men to office; eX-
tension of the right of suffrage TO men in
capable of using it rightly; inefficient exc
cutiOn of the laws: too ready accession 10 the
demands of great corporations; useless ex-
travagance in the expenditure OF public
moneys. The remedy for ali these evils lies
in the ballot box.
Then recurring to the subject of law, he
continued:
Side by side with the administration of the
functions of municipal government shall the
supremacy of the law be maintained in this
temple.
Devotion to law, fidelity to duty, loyalty to
the principle of self-government, has ever
distinguished the Anglo Saxon race. The
sturdy qualities Of mind and body, which
have been the glory of this people, have
been the sustaining force of the ideas of lib
erty. Through its history runs this spirit.
Its earliest records show a comprehension of
the significant fact that law was created for
the relief not the oppression of the governed.
Amid the dim obscurity of the early reach
ingS out after this principle, at times 1t
seems to have been lost III the dark
ness; yet the vital spark has never
been extinguished, and though often
hidden from sight. has burnt on,
as though sacredly fed by the divine hand of
the Promethean angel. Its splendid char
acteristc has been that 1t did not reach per
fiction at once The tests and trials of the
centuries were the needed discipline for its
development. The recognition of this prn-
ciple that law should protect and not Cypress
gave birth to the conviction that self-govern-
ment was an inalienable right of men. How
brightly shines this truth upon the pages of
this peoples history. From the fatherland
it came in the beginning. Deep in the re-
cesses of the virgin forests of Germany it had
its woodland temples. Well has it been said
that in the woods of Sloswick Eng
lish pariaments were born. The Saxon ban
ner raised on English soil was the signal of
the transplanting there of this principle. The
fierce pirate kings of the North swept down
upon it. left il crushed, and yet it lived again.
The Norman could not shake its integrity. 1t
died not with Harold at Hastings. John
could not destroy il. Magma Charta was its
early offspring. Behold it transplanted to
the shores OF the new world Witness that
tempest tossed bark upon whose deck clus-
tered the little band of Puritan pioneers.
Amid all adverse surrounding, there burnt
in that precious freight of hearts within
the MayfioWer the light of liberty to be set
again in the dark forests of an unknown
wilderness, TO be brought to brilliant perfec-
ton py the sacrifices OF human effortand the
expenditure of human activity. A blow from
tyranny smote il into living fire. 1t burnt at
Lexington. at Bunker Hill, at Yorktown.
Pew and insignificant were its defenders,
and yet they triumphed.
Aud at last behold it cTystalized into the
federal constitution. This is the fabric the
centuries have woven. Its warp. its wool are
imperishable. We have tested it on foreign
battlefelds among the halls of the Monte
zumas. upon the coast of the Afric pirate In
internecine strife ii has been welded into
everlasting strength. 1t shall never die. The
law is supreme-supreme because it is just.
In the beginning God said let there be
right and there was light. In that self-same
moment law was born. the law which bids
the day succeed the night. which brings the
change of seasons which bids the stars sing
together, the planets roll, which unbars the
gates of life and death. which teaches the
human soul to hope for Immortality Nations
seized the angelic hand extended. That