The herald., 1897-03-27
AT THE SUNSET CLUB
OPPRESSIVE TENDENCIES OF
MODERN GOVERNMENT
Presented by Judge j. w. Mckinley.
Senator Bulla Follows---Other
Speakers of the Evening

The Sunset club held its regular meet
ing last night with about fifty members
in attendance. President c. D.. Willard
occupied the chair, and made some very
appropriate and tender remarks at the
opening of the literary part of the meet
ing upon the recent death of X II. Wade
]. ]. Byrne followed Mr.. Willard, paying
high tribute to Mr. Wade.
The paper of the evening was present
ed by Judge J. w. Mckinley and was
entitled Oppressive Tendencies Of Mod
ern Government"
The speaker first touched upon the
complications of the present stage of
civilization and the corresponding COM
rlications of our system of government.
The virtues of government depend
more upon the character of the people
governed than upon the form Of gov
crnment, its codes and statutes. At the
same time a government which does
not represent the people cannot endure.
If better than the people it will sink to
their level; If worse, it will be swept
away either by peaceful sentiment or by
a nightly uprising of the people.
An absolute despotism under a just
dictation Is quite as good as the pretense
of a popular government under Tam
many, which exacts tribute and service
from every class and industry. TIE
power Of the political boss, the methods
manipulating political conventions and
elections were touched upon, as we'll as
brief sketch of the development of
government and it's purpose.
Further the speaker showed how In the
United States in all the ordinary affairs
of life the people are more or less depend
ent upon the decisions of the forty-five
appellate courts of the United States and
upon those of the federal courts The
burden of litigation, the diversity of
the law in different states. and the ne
cessity for some adjustment of our vary
ing statutes were points touched upon.
The necessity for the selection of the
best material for officials, higher fed
eral judicial standard, was urged, and
more careful protection of our temples
of justice.
lative branch of the government and
its yielding to influences which tend to
make 1t oppressive.
The encouragement of good men from
desire to enter the legislature has
tended to throw its control into bad
hands, though there are exceptions to
the rule.
Inc UNJUST taxation is common form
of despotism In the law-making power,
and from this source spring all the fed
eral, state and municipal legislation
which has so increased the expense of
government and the number of it's Off
GERS.
The many proposed bills in our state
legislature were touched upon, which
lose sight of the fundamental basis and
purpose of government, and the speaker
argued that our constitution should con-
tain more strict limitations upon our
legislative power.
The paper closed with the thought
that many people think we are fast drift
ing towards a paternal government, but
as We have approached perilous ex-
tremes in public policy the ebbing tide
of opposing forces has grown stronger
and floated US back to safety, and so it
is likely to be as to these dangerous ex-
tensions of the power of government
Senator Bulla followed Judge McKin-
ley, defending the late legislature. While
admitting that there was much to CEN
sure in legislative bodies he maintained
they accomplished much for the ad-
vancement of the state and the country.
Judge Groff, Major H. T. Lee, H. Ol
Osbourne, Abbot Kinney, r. A. Gibson,
and others Joined in the discussion which
followed the paper