Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1897-01-01

never thought, you will not take time to
give expression.
II have taken as my SUBJECT the
Ancient Landmarks And my reason
for so doing is this, that in my judgment
all we need to do to make the govern
ment fulfill our ideas is to carry it back
and place it upon the foundations already
laid and establish it on principles already
established. (Applause.) There IL
nothing new In government principles.
The principles which underlie our form
of government are understood. They
are written in books. They have been
taught in the schools. The only trouble
is we fail to apply those principles. We
fail to measure legislation by those prin-
ciples, and | desire to suggest in your
presence some of the ancient landmarks,
and to bring your attention to some of
those principles, the truth of which you
must admit; and having admitted the
truth of the principles, you must admit
that they ought to be applied. The fun
damental principle, the one that lies
under all others, the one out of which
all Others grow, is that all men are
created equal. Now you say it is com.
monplace to talk that way. Yes, my
friends, it Is. That is a commonplace
principle, but show me a single bad law
upon the statute books and | will show
you a law that violates that principle
which you call commonplace. But out
of that principle Of equality come all
principles which must be used in deter
mining what kinds of legislation are bad.
Out of that principle of equality comes
this principle which | desire to impress
upon the minds of every listener, and
that is that if all men are created equal,
then no citizen has a natural right to
injure any other citizen (%applause) ; and
If no citizen has a natural right to iniuIe
another citizen, then a good govern
ment will neither enable nor permit one
citizen to injure another citizen. Gap
p%lause.)
Nov, from the study of that prin-
ciple, and from its application to legis-
lation proposed, you are able to deter
mine whether that legislation Is good or
bad. Andrew Jackson gave utterance to
one sentence which was sufficient to
stamp him as a statesman of the highest
order, had he never said another word.
He said There are no necessary evils
in government. Those evils exist only
in its abuse My friends, there is a
sentiment worthy of consideration. 1t
is true that there are nc necessary evils
III governments. llt Evils VI govern
ment exist IN the abuse of government.
More than that | challenge you to find
a time when an abuse of government was
ever attacked but what the people who
derived a benefit from the abuse identi-
fled themselves with the government and
accused the man who tried to remedy the
abuse of raising his hands against gov
eminent itself. (Applause.) Remember
that there is all the difference in the
world between government itself and the
abuse of government. In that same con-
nection Jackson said that if the govern
ment would treat all alike, and as heaven
rains showers of blessings upon the rich
and poor alike, then government would
be an unqualified blessing. And then,
to draw that distinction, so necessary,
my friends, if you are going to make
government what it ought to be, draw
the distinction between protecting citi-
zens in the enjoyment of the fruits of
their own labors and in comforting upon
some citizens the fruits of other peoples
labOrs. (Applause.)