Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1897-06-17
WHO SHALL GOVERN?
WHERE SHALL THE ACTUAL Gov
ERNlNo POWER RESlDE7
Justice Clark OF the Supreme Court OF
North Carolina Discusses the Subject
Ofthe Governing Power In Memorial
Day Speech IN Richmond, Va.

eloquent address delivered by the dis
;inguished Chief Justice Clark of North
Arolina on Decoration day. His sub
Jet was 1.-The Dangers of our Repub-
nc, and he spoke in part as follows:
II would be unmindful Of the duties
md opportunities OF the occasion were
to waste your time in rhetorical plati-
!udes or well rounded sentences signi-
tying nothing. The situation is too
grave, the issues too important, the
impending conflict too certain and the
results too great and lasting. If l can
Iay aught to impress upon you that a
great struggle, more important by far
than that of 1861, and as inevitable, is
before you, and that you vii! be fac
.ors of consequence in that contest, l
shall not have stood before you in vain.
At Waterloo, when for hours the con-
dict for the mastershIp of Europe had
hung in nearly even balances, and at
last as the sun was bending low, victo-
~ seemed to incline to the French, u
body of troops was seen far off toward
the north marching toward the field of
battle. On and on they came. Every
glass was leveled upon them. Leaders
aud generals strained their vision TO
discover to which side the reinforce
nent belonged, for it would be cast in
10 the scales, like the sword of Bren-
NUS If they were the columns OF
Grouchy, then once more, and brighter
than eyer before, the star of Napoleon
would beam upon field lost and won;
Il they were the leading files of Bluch
er, then the empire would pass away
like troubled dream, and England!
England! would be the cry On they
came, with strides as steady as fate, as
irresistible as destiny. They proved to
be Bulow's division Of Blucher's corps,
and fortune fed forever from her spoil
I'd and favorite child. The present
generation is engaged like mo-
mentous struggle, not on the narrow
battlefield of Belgium plain, but on
an amphithsatre that reaches to the
silent oceans, In the press, on the
hastings, in the close converse oineigh-
Dor with neighbor the conflict of ideas
Is going on. 1t is becoming more and
more intense The forces are nearly
evenly divided, and both sides, like the
,ontending armies at Waterloo, are
looking for reinforcement to the gene
ration that is arriving at munhood, for
your weight will decide the issue. The
arrival of your generation upon the
battlefield will decisively end the bat
tie.
What are these contending forces
and what is the true issue? Is it the
sariffP That is party issue over which
either side predicts beneficial results il
II wins and disastrous consequences If
II fails-and alternately one or the
other wins, and with better or worse
conditions the country goes on. Is 1t
the silver issue, the financial question?
That is nearer the mark, yet that ques-
ton is rather an incident, a symptom,
phase with suggested remedies and
not the disease itself. Nor yet is the
conflict between labor and capital, nor
the old, old struggle between states
rights and the centralizing tendencies
Of the federal government. The vital
question lies deeper than any of these
It is that which the Roman republic
had to face, that which every republic
can government has had to determine,
aud upon the answer to which its con-
tinued existence as q republic depends.
That question was very dimly and in
distinctly discerned IN the beginning
Of this great republic. 1t took on i'm
creased Importance after the late civil
war. To-day it has become the great
underlying question upon which men
lnstinctively, often unConsciously per-
haps, are taking sides. 1t is IA question
which in republic must be settled,
and there can be no peace until it is,
and the result must be safeguarded by
profound constitutional changes The
vital question which this country is
called upon TO determine, and towards
the determination of which we are in
diligently, it may be, or blindly, it
may be, cropping our way is, Where
shall the actual governing power re-
side?' Shall it be in men or in money?
It is not a new question, but In a re-
public it is the inevitable question
whose determination settles all others
What matters it II the constitution
says that all political power resides in
or is derived from the people, if 1t has
ceased TO be true in fact? The Roman
legions bore to the latest days Of the
empire upon their standards the words
THE senate and the Roman people
centuries after Augustus and Tiberius
and Nero had stamped out the last yes
tige of the popular will. There were
still tribunes Of the people, and consuls
and a senate and the forms of repub-