Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-11-02
AN IMPERIAL POLICY.
DIR. WOODROW WILSON DISCUSSES
1T IN HIS LECTURE.
LIT AMERICA HAVE her SHARE.
Intfmates That He Did Not Originally
Favor Territorial Expansion-N
All Branches of Government.

The audience which last night heard
the fourth Of DR.. Woodrow Wilson's Sc
ries of five lectures at Richmond College
was fully as large as any which has yet
greeted him; indeed. the capacity OF the
| hall has been taxed every night
Dr. Wilson was introduced by Profes-
sor Winston, who announced that as all
the Richmond churches had services
every Wednesday night. the last OF Or.
Wilson's lectures would be delivered to-
morrow night, instead of tonight, Sc
that those who had been attending the
lectures could have an opportunity to go
to church.
DR.. Wilson's theme was Theory and
Practice in Organization" He has al
ready proven himself something of
shatterer of idols. and last night he main
tained his reputation. ridiculing the doc
trine Of checks and balances in govern
ment, the belief in which, as said to ex-
list in our government, the speaker
said, had become little short of super
stition. The most striking feature of the
lecture was DR.. Wilson's argument In
favor of giving to Cabinet officers a seat
as was provided for by the Constitution
Of the Confederate States. He also ex-
pressed himself as favorable to the
policy of territorial expansion. now that
1t seems to be forced upon US.
A POPULAR SUPERSTITION.
DR.. Wilson began discussing what he
termed a superstition of American con-
stitutonal life-the system of checks and
balances in government, which was popu
larly supposed to exist. The idea arises
from the fact that our Constitution is
one of restraint, rather than action. We
almost entirely express government in
negative terms, and legal terms. We
are lawyers by long inheritance. We
take the legal view naturally. We like
nuts to crack, problems TO solve De
Tocqueville said no people. EXCEPT edu-
Gated In law, could understand the Con
stitution Of the United States. But NJ.
Bogehot the English writer, said any
body could understand it. There was the
difference of the point of view. The
speaker showed how the Constitution OF
the United States provided that the in
terpreters Of the law should watch the
men who made them. and vice versa,
and that the men who executed them
should watch both.
Carlyle once propounded what he called
the most difficult question which con-
fronts the trainers of government How.
out of a thousand knaves, to make an
honest people. But Carlyle was a dys-
peptic. The speaker thought the fact
that the American people are a thinking
people, not influenced by passion, is RE
secret of their equipoise in government
which they have obtained. Montesquieu
pIopounded first the theory OF checks and
balances in government, and the beauty
Of Nyb wa
theory we have gone on and made
practical government to suit ourselves.
| The system Is not practiced In England.
The ministers, who are the rulers, in
stead of being held in check by the legis-
lative power. sit in PaTliament-an exc
cutive committee of the majority presid-
ing over legislation.
| CABINET OFFICERS IN CONGRESS.
The speaker said he had heard hours
Of debate in Congress over what the Sec
rotary Of the Treasury meant in certain
letter. Would 1t not have been we'll to
send for him? Proceeding DR.. Wilson
argued strongly in favor of giving Cabi-
net officers seats in Congress- We do not
allow the President TO talk much about
what he intends to do; in England the
nation must be taken into the confidence
of the Executive.
when a law has failed to prove satisfac-
tory, that it was the fault of the Execu-
tive. In England II laws prove failures
the lawmakers are not those who are
blamed, but the ministers who proposed
the law.
What assurance have we that an I'M
known man will not get up in a nomi-
mating convention and make an eloquent
speech?" he said. The audience evidently
thought the speaker intended an allusion
to the great speech made by Mr.. Bryan
in the Chicago convention in 1896, and
was very still, but DR.. Wilson said his
hearers must not think he meant to refer
TO any particular case; he did not.
LET'S HAVE OUR SHARE.
DR.. Wilson is evidently an expansion
list. After a really impassioned plea FOR
a closer union of the executive and the
legislative branches of government, as
being so supremely necessary just now,
when the United States is entering upon
an international career, and nice ques-
lions of international administration have
70 be faced, he said:
1--WE are to compete with Germany and
Russia. We are the power of light; they
the powers of darkness. We must tri-
umph. ! did not want this business TO
start. / had nothing TO do with starting
it. 1t has started, let us keep up with
the procession. II somebody is TO have
all this world, let 1t be US"
This was greeted by such thunderous
applause that it was some time before
the lecturer could proceed.
The remainder of DR.. Wilson's address
was devoted TO municipal government,
which in the United states had been, he
said. a failure, without exception. In con-
Iii.
of intimacy and cooperation between all
branches of government.