The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-06-01

Following is the text of the eloquent
address delivered by Judge Judd at the
thatcher Opera house, Logan, to the
students of the Brigham Young acad-
envy on May 26:
Ladies and Gentlemen, and Students
of the Brigham Young College:
Alexander Hamilton in the opening
paper of the Federal;st, presenting the
constitution of 1887 TO the people of the
United States for their consideration,
makes this statement: 1T has been
frequently remarked that it seems to
have been reserved to the people of this
country 10 decide by their conduct and
example the important question wheth-
er societies of men are really capable
or not of establishing good govern
ment from reflection and choice, or
whether they are forever destined to
depend for their political constitutions
on accident and force. II there be any
truth in the remark, the crisis at which
we are arrived may with proprlety
be regarded as the period when that
decision is to be made; and a wrong
election Of the part we shall act may in
this view deserve to be considered as
the general misfortune to mankind"
These words of Hamilton are in my
opinion. as applicable to the American
people now, as when they were penned.
We have arrived at a most critical
period in the histol. of our nation. and
while our future may not be said TO
depend upon one single act as was the
case concerning which Hamilton was
writing, yet it can pc truthfully said
that we have reached the forks Of
She road" and we must decide which
direction we will take Our history is
in one important respect different from
any civilization that has preceded US.
While it took Rome, Greece, France,
Germany, England and other nations
centuries upon centuries TO arrive at
the state of manhood, with one bound,
as it were, in almost an hundred years
this nation has grown from infancy TO
the most mature proportions. The
question my friends, We are confronted
with is: are we prepared for the condi-
ton TO which we as a nation are ar
rived? Can we guide ourselves safely
over the Shoals that are just down the
stream upon which our ship is drift
ing; or, in the words of Hamilton, is
our future to depend on accident and
force2"
The manner in which the American
ballot is used must decide this question.
Upon the result of our action depends
the fortune or misfortune Of mankind.
/ repeat the fortune or misfortune
of mankind. Somehow I have always
felt that this nation had destiny: that
the hand which guided the universe
had painted ahis people here and shap-
ed their course with the view and for
the purpose of affecting the common
law Of mankind for good. The forma-
ton Of our political constitution it
seems TO me. was in harmony with this
idea But whether its future admins
fration shall be- is a question of deep
est concern to civilization. That the
nipple of our republic in vouchsafing
human liberty has already produced a
profound effect upon the civilization
and aspirations Of other people and ma
tons I do not think admits Of doubt.
But hitherto our people have allowed
the affairs of state to drift under the
delusive idea that things We're so we'll
ordered with US that the government
would take care. of itself. We are wax
ing UP now to the realization that Vt is
with US as it has been with nations in
the past, that while the people rest
su9inely upon such assurances. other
forces are at work gradually and
stealthily absorbing the powers Of gov
eminent.
The principles underlying our govern
1nent are derived from the consent of
the governed, and if the governed do
not see to it that their consent is THE
controlling force their silence becomes
the permission TO others to direct af-
fairs.
1t must be borne in mind and never
forgotten that there is one fundamental
principle in government that admits
OF no exception, and that is, that no
matter what the form of government
may be, it must in the very nature of
things be a reflex Of the social system
upon which it is based. So that it re-
suits. that in considering the future
OF our nation we must consider 1t in
the light of and altogether with our
social system; and this brings me to
remark that politically, our govern
1nentt is founded upon the idea of g free
ballot. Not only this. but as every Of
ficer, both state and national, either
directly or Indirectly derives his COM
mission through the ballot; if you
strange the ballet you strange the
government, and if you poison the bal
lot with corruption, Indifference or
ignorance you in like manner poison
the government, which in either case
turns it into an engine of injustice and
oppression whereby bllt pNOplS BOSC
their liberties Does any one suppose
that the stream can ever be purer
than the fountain; that the morale at
tending an effect can be better than
the morale which is the Impulse Of the
cause that produced the effect2 Let
me be more specific: Does any one
suppose that a man who is neglectful
or Indifferent to the duties of citizen
ship, and therefore so ignorant as to
be unable to cast an intelligent ballot;
or who is so corrupt as to sell his bal
lot: or who allows some man or as
sociafion of men TO dictate To him how
he shall use his ballot. and who blind
" follows such dicta,tion;-I repeat,
does any one suppose such a man in
either case to be a fit constituent of our
social or political system? An this
brings me to say that our social COM
pact is made up of individuals as the
stream is made up of drops of water,
and If you poison one, you measurably
affect ALL
My friends, the society of mankind
must be made up of honest intelligent
individuals who love justice and are
bold in asserting their individuality
before you can predicate a government
where justice rules and freedom reigns.
And this brings me to consider what
has IN the past been a practice of our
government that I believe to be not
only the greatest abuse to which a
free people have ever been subjected,
but nothing short of criminal, and that
is the indiscriminate bestowal of the
American ballot upon the ignorant and
criminal classes of Europe. 1t was bad
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