The Tupelo journal., 1904-08-19
Mr.. Chairman and Gentlemen of the

Mr.. Chairman and Gentlemen of the
Committee:
| have resigned the Office of chief
Judge of the court of appeals of this state
in order that l may accept the response
bility that the great convention you rep
resent has put upon me, without possible
prejudice to the court to which | had the
honor to belong. or to the eminent mem
bers of the judiciary of this state, OF
whom may now say as a private citizen
I am justly proud.
At the very threshold of this response
and before dealing with other subjects,
I must, in justice to myself and to re-
iieve my sense of gratitude, express my
profound appreciation of the confidence
reposed in me by the convention. After
nominating me and subsequently receiv-
ing a communication declaring that ]
regarded the gold standard as firmly
and irrevocably established, a matter
concerning which | felt it incumbent
upon me to make known my attitude so
that hereafter no man could justly say
that his support had been secured
through indirection or mistake. the con-
vention reiterated it's determination thai
I should be the standard bearer OF the
party in the present contest. This mark
of trust and confidence shall ever es-
TEEN as the highest honor that could be
conferred upon mean honor that,
whatever may be the fate OF the cam
paign. the future can in no degree lessen
or impair.
The admirable platform upon which
the party appeals to the country for its
confidence and support clearly states the
principles which were so well condensed
IN the first inaugural address of Presi-
dent Jefferson, and points out with force
and directness the course to be pursued
through their proper application in order
TO insure needed reforms in both the
legislative and administrative depart
ments of the government. While I'M
hesitating in its promise to correct
abuses and to right wrongs wherever
they appear or however caused; to in
vestigate the several administrative de-
partments of the government, the con-
duct of whose officials has created scan
dals, and to punish those who have been
guilty of a breach of their trust; to OPP
pose the granting of special privileges
by which the few may profit at the ex-
pense of the many; to practice economy
in the expenditure of the moneys of the
people, and to that end to return nee
more to the methods of the founders Of
the republic by observing in ~disbursing
the public funds the care and caution a
prudent individual observes with re-
spect 10 his own; still the spirit of the
platform assures conservative, instead
of rash action; the protection of the in
nocent as well as the punishment Of
the guilty; the encouragement of indus
try, economy and thrift; the protection
of property and a guarantee of the en-
forcement for the benefit of all of mans
inalienable rights, among which, as said
In the Declaration of independence, are
life, liberty and the pursuit of happi-
ness" Liberty, as understood in this
country, means not only the right of
freedom from actual %servitude, impris-
onment or restraint, but the right of n
to use his facilities in all lawful ways,
to live and work where he will and to
pursue any lawful trade or business.
These essential rights of life, liberty and
property are not only guaranteed to the
citizen by theconstitution of each of the
several states, but the states are by the
fourteenth amendment to the constitu-
ton of the United States forbidden to
deprive any person Of any one of them
without dueprocess of law.
Occasionally, by eason of unneces-
sary or inpatient agitation for reforms,
or because the limitations placed upon
the departments of government by the
constitution are disregarded by officials
desiring to accomplish that which 70
them seems good, whether the power ex-,
3sts in them or not, it becomes desirable
to call attention to the fact that the peo-
pie, in whom all power resides, have
seen fit, through the medium of the con-
stitution, to limit the governmental
powers conferred and to say to depart
ments created by it: Thus far shalt
thou go and no farther" To secure the
ends sought the people have by the con-
stitutidn separated and distributed
among the three departments of gov
ernment-the executive, legislative and
judicia-certain powers, and it is the
duty Of those administering each de-
partment SO to act as to preserve, rather
than to destroy, the potency of the CO.
ordinate branches of the government,
and thus secure the exercise of all the
powers conferred by the people.
Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Will
liam G. Jarvis, touching the perpetuity
Of our institutions, written many years
after he had retired to private life. said:
eff the three powers of our government
maintain their mutual Independence of
each other, 1t may last long, but not so
il either can assume the authority of
the other" 1t must be confessed that
in the course of u history executives
have employed powers not belonging to
them; statutes have been passed that
were expressly forbidden by the consti-
tuition and statutes have been set aside
as unconstitutional when it was difficult
to point out the provisions said to be
offended against in their enactment; all
this has been done with a good purpose,
no doubt, but in disregard, nevertheless,
of the fact that ours is a government Of
laws, not of men, deriving its Just pow
ers from the consent of the governed"
If we would have our government con-