The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-30

Ing series of articles on Rec0nstfuc- tion. fin which the phase of thought on
 that question which was long sealed book to the average reader of that periodical, Is given a prominent place. | The movement towards independent | thought Is capturing the schools of higher learning. A few years ago there was only here and there in colleges and universities a solitary chair of Political Science. Now in many of them there are great schools of Political Science | fully endowed: and now the college pro- lessor feels himself not only free to read and to think, but free also to speak and to write on the questions of the day. Public opinion demands for him this right.
 Outside of colleges we have such societies as the Civic Federation at Chicago. and the Academy of Natural and Political Science at Philadelphia, In which public questions are freely dis cussed. So there Is a society for the betterment of our civil service. This Association Is composed of distinguish guished citizens who have voluntarily com together to secure the appoint ment of non-elec.ive officials of the government on the ground of merit, in- stead of as a reward for political ser virces. All the aims of this Asscr'a- ton are n-political, and 1t has already done a great work. # has secured at Washington laws and fogu- lations that have greatly improved the public service, and I may add here that, under these, Southern Democrats began to get places in the government service before Democrats had any power of appointment. The aim Of this Association is not only to secure better officials, but to minimize as tar as may be. the prizes depending upon results at the ballot box, and so to minimize also excitement, while puri- i flying elections.
 American culture is broadly recog- nizing the fact that as American prob lems become more difficult and the tasks before their government become more arduous, public opinion must be | elevated to a higher plane, that men and measures must be judged or by higher standard, and that to this end we must have freer thought. freer speech, and more of independent action than ever before.
 This is the lesson I would commend today to my brethren of the Alabama Bar.
 The movement has indeed already reached our section. We. too. are EOInlnK, not OUly LO LOtCA dtOg OAS " @A- mire and applaud, greater independ- ence in our Journals. Independence in journalism sometimes stands simply for
 greed. The publisher denominates his paper as a business venture and ad" vocates only what 1t will pay to advo- cate. Supch a paper is curse to any land. The truly independent journal ist is he who, whether deeming him. self bound by party ties or not, recoS- nIzes the power of the press for good or evil, and makes duty-duty to the principles by which he believes his party or his country ought to be guided, his own guiding star. Such a journalist. standing firmly by his con- victions. courageously maintaining them in the midst of popular upheavals that sweep away his subscription list, such a journalist Is like the brave pilot to whom in 1886 James Russell Lowell likened President Cleveland. the pilot who said in the storm oh, Neptune. you may sink me, you may drown me if you will, but I will keep the rudder truei" With the teachings of any such journal all men may not agree, but the
 example set by such newspaper all men must admire; its influence in
 creating and sustaining a high stan dard of private and public morality all
 men must acknowledge. Such news papers I am proud to say we have in Alabama. One of them a conspicuous exemplar of the virtues I have been
 extolling, ] need not say, for am sure your minds have turned to 1t while ] | am speaking. is here in this city. It Is just as much the duty of a law yer as it is of the journalist. to be honest and brave and outspoken. You
 may not set yourself up as politician or a statesman, but you do claim, each of you, to be a patriotic citizen. If you are, then the influence you possess among your neighbors Is
 the talent which your country has given you and you may not hide 1t
 under a bushcl. You would scorn to
 give your client an opinion that tho law is with him when you believe 1t is against him; your services are, but your conscience is not. to be had for
 money. So your neighbor and your country have a right, without price, to your honest opinion on public QIes- tions, an opinion so distinctly avowcd that 1t will be factor in the creation
 of public sentiment and helpful in Dri-
 maries, in conventions and in elections. Swapping of Standpoints.
 One of the gravest questions of today,
 
 | seems to me that now much the larger half Is political, is whether the Con- stitution follows the flag into our in-
 sular possessions. Before speaking of this question, I think 1t due to myself to say, although my record on 1t is a
 matter of no importance, that there has
 been no one more opposed to our in, | sular policy, and especially to the talk ing over of the Philippines than I and
 that have not hesitated, even though | in a private position, to speak out and
 write in the public prints against 1t. Some of you may. and others of you may not, agree with me on this ques- | tion, but while advocating, I must eX-
 ercise, the right of free speech. Sup pose for the sake of this discussion wo
 regard the taking over of the Philip
 pines to be an accomplished fact. This
 qIe6tlon then arises: Shall we govern these islands, or shall we ask them to
 help govern us? Have these islanders
 a right to participate in the govern
 ment of the States of the Union. simply
 because they are human beings and are
 under our flag? On what seems to be
 taken as a basic proposition in this dis
 cussion, viz, the meaning and appli. cation of certain clauses of the Decla-
 ration of Independence, the exchange
 of positions. the swapping of stand points by the Republican and Demo-
 cratic parties, appears to me to be the
 most remarkable acrobatic perform
 ance in our history. In the fifties.
 when Abolitionism under Gerritt Smith,
 Charles Sumner and Fred Douglass,
 was capturing the Republican party
 its two fundamentad propositions