The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1897-08-05

by Congress in 1874 and promptly rat
ined. The contested presidential elec
uon OF 1901 showed another dangerous
defect in the organic instrumen mt which
was patched up Umperfectly, a. the
contested election of 1876 showed) by
the 18th amendment submitted by
Congress in 1903 and ratified by the
states within nine months thereafter.
ihree other amendments followed in
.he wake OF the great civil war. How
Tar IL would have been possible to have
averted the vast loss Of life and mon
erty, and the resultant taxation since
ii the original Constitution had been
more wisely and clearly drawn, or il
timely and proper amendments had
been made, it would be a sgd and a
| PROFITLEss TASK TO CONSIDER NOW.
| When the Federal Constitution of
1877 was sent forth, it was provided for
people Of 100000, scattered along
the Atlantic slope.
We are now trying to make it do
duty for SO,OOO.OO0 settled from ocean
to ocean, and from the great lakes to
the gulf. Then our population was
mostly rural, for three years later, in
1870, we had but FIVE towns in the
| whole country which had as many as
$500 Inhabitants each, and only two
Others had over 1000; now we have
the second largest city on the globe,
and several that have passed the half
million mark. Then we had Is post
offices with $37 900 annual pOstoffice
expenditure. Now we have $4,000 post
offices and an annual postal expendi-
ture of $4,000 900.
During the first ten years the expen-
ditures of the Federal government, in
cluding the payments on the Revolu-
ltiOnary debts, averaged about $1O,OOO,-
600 annually. In the last few years
they have averaged fifty times that
When the Constitution was adopted
Virginia was easily the first State in
influence and population, having one
fourth the population of the whole
country, and y. G.. ranked third,
while New York, which then stood
fifth, now has double the population of
the whole Union of that date, and
many other States now have pOpula-
tiOn greater than the original Union,
whose very names were then unheard
of, and over whose bosOms the savage
and the buffalo roamed unmolested.
n Then steamboats,, railroads. gas,
electricity Except as a toy in Frank
Inns hands, and a thousand other in
, ventiOns and discoveries which have
, profoundly modified the life and
, thought and wants of the people and
! governmental requirements and dan
gers were still in the womb of the fu-
. ture.
CORPORATIONS WERE THEN SO FEW
: that not till four years later, in 1871
p did New York incorporate it's first
bank and the charter for the second
bank was only obtai ned by the ubtil-
- v-ho 1nd he
banking privileges in an act incOrpO-
/. rating a water company. Not to par.
e ticularize further, we are farther from
a those times in point of development
3, and changes than those days from the
n times of Elizabeth, and in many re.
It spects even more distant are we from
h that era than it was from the age Of
" william or Alfred. Indeed the con.
II ventiOn in some respects Gas shown by
h prompt amendments) did not correctly
It express the feelings and wants of its
e, own day. 1t was a small body, only 81
J. in number, of whom only 80 cOncurret
is in the final result. They had no bene
70 fit from the public opinion of theiI
v own day. but sat within closed doors
g Their work was barely ratified by con
lie instance received the imprimatur o
q
m That the constitution was as good a!
y it was is a marvel and it has been eulO
l. gized accordingly. But had it beer
Is perfect then-and it was MOTT cOul(
y not fail in the wonderful development
= of more than q century to be in many
Is respects inadequate for this genera
l. tiOn and it must become more ant
= more so as the years pass. 1t canno
be long before we shall have 100000,
~ 600, and even that is small to what il
N just beyond. We have as yet only.
"The first low wash of waves
Where soon shall roll human sea-"
le Alaska, whose climate fOrbids hOp'
! of it's ever before becoming State
IS and the expected admission of Hawaii
n ! which indicates colonial policy, ar
|, features unprovided for by cOnstitu
- tiOn which contemplated merely un
u ion of cO-equal States and not perma
~ nent territories or colonies. Tim
81 and your patience would fail me t.
~ discuss the many particulars in whicl
II the
~ PRESENT FEDERAL CONSTITUTION
X needs revision, even if possessed tn
). ability and the authority to indicat
Ill ltS VIZ 80
III cient garment should be let out, where
'e in it should gathered in, what rent
should be sewn up and dOuble
IS prOOfed which the sword has cut
n what holes and tears should be darne
pr which the judiciary have made or shO'
y where the executive or congress ha
ne worn the garment too thin. Sue
matters require more elaboration an
aI most careful thought.
w shalt only indicate in broad wa
or the inherent defect which was in tn
u original instrument and which tim
eo has but accentuated. In the frs
or place, the constitution of the Unite
~ States was never Democratic. The eS
ne pertinent of self government was the
r. new and the masses we're not educs
Us ted. The school master was not abrOa
Ih in the land. The dominant minds i
q that convention, almost without e1
ceptiOn feared to trust the peOpl
There were leaders like Hamilton, WI
preferred a monarchy, and who mad
hI small cOncealment of a belief that "t
r. that complexion it must come at last
u There was quiet talk of calling to tt
n throne the second son of George tt
IT. Third. he who was afterwards the il
as famous Frederick Duke of York. A
have said, that no breath of publ
e. opinion might blow upon the cOnvel
NJ ton the doors were hermeticall
'e- sealed-closed in the faces of the PEI
ny ple upon whose welfare they were q
gu suming to act as guardians.
In That an instrument so cOnstructe
no and by such men, and for peop
lld averaging SO far in point of educ
no tiOn below the present generatio
should have been undemocratic was
lpe have been expected. That it has r
'e9 mained so till this day is the unexpe
,ao ted. Of the great departments of go
~ ernment, the executive, the judici
TO- and the legislative, the
5Iv CONSTITUTION GAVE THE PEOPLE
only voice in selecting one half