The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-04-13
JEFFERsoN's BIRTHDAY.

The name of Thomas Jefferson is
/ dear to all Americans but doublv dear
to those Americans who accept his
theory Of government. He was above
all men the apostle of the rights of
man. At a time when others were re-
! lying for guidance on precedents and
those theories of government that had
! dominated the world since human gov
eminent was instituted he was going
down deeper into the very heart of
things. and finding in the consent of
the governed the only true and just
source Of the powers of government.
Great as he was there was nothing
greater in him than his absolute faith
IN the people. With him, so far as faith
in the poole was concerned, there was
neither variableness nor shadow Of
turning. He trusted them as the child
trusts its mother. The only other pres
ident of the United States who has ap-
preached Jefferson in his faith in the
honor and integrity and capacity of
the people for elf-government was
Abraham Lincoln. Both trusted the
people as much as Abraham of old
trusted the Lord
Never was there a greater need in
these United States than exists today
for a recurrence to those principles of
free government taught by Jefferson.
Today the general government, and the
state governments also, is dominated
to greater or lesser extent by aggre-
gated wealth. The maintenance of the
law and the observance of constitu-
tional rights have come to mean very
largely the maintenance of class rights,
the due observance of class prejudices.
Property rights have come to be con-
sidered more sacred than human
rights, and it is far easier to invoke
the aid of the strong arm of the gov
eminent for the protection of the
the later. And when the great party
that Jefferson founded asserts anew, |
in its national platform, those eternal |
principles of liberty and free govern
ment that the Sage of Monticello first |
proclaimed, that party is denounced by |
all who hold privilege and pelf to be |
above principle and patriotism as a |
patty VI anal ely anu ICNOidl1OH anu
a menace TO our form of government. |
And when that party dissents from
the doctrine laid down by the supreme
court of the United States that the
income of the millionaire is not a legit-
innate object of taxation by the fed
eral government, these same classes
who say that privilege and pelf are
above principle and patriotism cry
treason" And when that same SUI
preme court says trusts, whether in
the shape of railroad pools or in some
other shape, are illegal and inimical to
the public welfare, these same classes
denounce the court and deride its de-
cision. When such things are, is ii not
time that the Democratic party re-
asserted the Jeffersonian theory that
all men are created equal and that the
Just powers of the government are
derived from the consent of the gov
erned?
This American government will be
free so long as it adheres to the prin-
ciples of freedom, and no longer Ty-
ranny and usurpation can adapt them
selves to the republican form of gov
eminent as well as to a monarchy or
an absolutism. 1t is easy to have the
form of a free government without
having the substance. And there is a
strong tendency in the United States to
form for substance. If we
would enjoy the blessings left us by
he founders of our government we
must observe the principles on which
hose blessings rest. And the country
las never produced a greater ex-
FOUNDER of them than Thomas Jeffer-
on. All who honor his memory should ,
bserve, by recalling and pondering :
yer his life and life's work, this the j.,
ne hundred and fifty-fourth ami :
-ersary of his birth.